MasterTale
by Blue Raspberry Ametrine
Summary: When Ellie and Elizabeth fall into the cave beneath Mount Hyperion, they are faced with the greatest adventure of their lives and more talking appliances than anyone could ever imagine. Will they be able to free their new friends?
1. Once Upon a Time

**Disclaimer: I do not own** _ **Brave Little Toaster, Undertale,**_ **or most of the characters in this story. Characters from authors** _ **Lostinawhisper**_ **and** _ **Lampi01**_ **appear** _ **,**_ **but they will be credited as they appear at the end of chapters to avoid spoilers.**

 **In this AU, all of the human characters are around 12 years old.**

 **Chapter One: Once Upon a Time**

Far away in a far off land, and many years ago, humans and appliances lived together in peace. They existed in their own separate worlds. But one day, the humans discovered that their tools had been alive all along.

Appliances tried to make peace with their Masters, but humans feared for their lives. Some loathed the idea of common houseware stalking their every move. Others believed the appliances were possessed and held more sinister motives.

As is the tradition with such fickle beings, humans decided they could not live amongst these 'creatures.' Strife broke out between the two races.

It was not until the intervening of a fairy that the conflict was settled. She was begged, and eventually forced, into putting a stop to the madness.

Under her guidance, all of the appliances found to be alive were gathered together and thrown into a pit below Mount Hyperion. She sealed the appliances underground with a magic spell.

Still, this fairy understood they were innocent. She also understood how much it hurt to be trapped by the humans, so she included an extra clause to make sure that if peace could ever be reached, the appliances would not be locked away forever.

If a human and an appliance were to work together and combine into one being, they could cross the barrier, and the power of seven human souls would break it entirely. She hoped that the two races would be able to find peace.

She also made it so humans would be trapped behind the barrier as well. This was to make sure appliances would not be the only ones to suffer, and that humans would pay for their inability to accept other beings, somehow, in some form. A strange form of revenge, she decided.

Warnings were set in place to deter future humans from entering the cave. They are designed to last thousands of years. Even if the language they are written in does not. This has not stopped some curious explorers, however.

…

Legends say that those who climb Mount Hyperion never return, even to this day.

…

One day, two young friends were taking in the view from the top of the mountain. The wind was strong, so they flew kites and watched leaves dance through the wind.

When a lone monarch appeared, the more excitable girl chased after it. She ignored the signs posted around the barrier, which she could fall into at any second.

Her friend chased after her, but by the time they met up, it was too late. Both were close to the edge, the grass and dirt not enough to support their weight.

They fell through the barrier, never expected to be seen again.


	2. Your Best Friend, Didi!

**Chapter Two: Your Best Friend, Didi!**

Ellie and Elizabeth took a moment to recuperate from their fall. They both know the impact would have most likely killed them (or at least left them with significant wounds) if it were not for the bed of flowers they had landed on.

The two were already covered in the petals of daisies, begonias, black-eyed-susans, and of course, hundreds and hundreds of bright yellow dandelions and buttercups.

Laid out in front of them was a dark hallway, the floor made of compressed dirt a shade of taupe with a hint of violet neither of them thought was possible. The bricks walling the garden in were a similar color, the light from the opening above them letting in just enough light to even see. The whole room smelt like a florist's shop. A rather _old_ florist's shop.

"How are we going to get back up?" asked Elizabeth, looking up to the hole they had only just fallen through. There were no ladders set up, no markings in the wall, nothing to even give them a hint at where to start. Chances were they were too deep for anyone to hear them screaming, either.

Ellie thought to herself for a moment, looking over the flowers, picking a dandelions to decorate her hair. "I have no idea. At least we weren't hurt, though!"

The other girl nodded. "True, but this place… it doesn't seem natural. Why would anyone build a brick room this deep into a mountain?"

"You're right. That doesn't make sense." The two got to their feet, shaking the petals and pollen from their shirts. Ellie was wearing a blue skirt, matching hair tie, and the oversized lilac shirt she had found in her father's closet, which her mother never got around to cleaning after he disappeared. Like all of his shirts, it was checkered by thin stripes. Elizabeth was dressed more simply, with a t-shirt and her brown overalls.

"I suppose we should investigate," Ellie suggested, already beginning to smile. "I bet whatever is down there, it has to be great! Especially if people went to these lengths to hide it."

They walked down the narrow hallway, so thin that Elizabeth had to straggle behind. "Are you sure this is a good idea?"

Ellie shrugged. "Well, it's not like we're going to get rescued anytime soon. It'll take hours for them to find us. We might as well find something to do while we're waiting."

"Too bad we don't have anything on us," added the other girl, stepping over a rock in her dirt-caked shoes but refusing to stop and pick it out. "Once we reach the end of this cave, all we can do is just sit around and braid each other's hair until someone stumbles upon here.

"We could play hide-and-go-seek?" Ellie grinned her best, but both of them knew that with nowhere to hide, the game would be short-lived. "Still, you have the stick. I guess we could draw on the walls. Leave our mark so everyone knows we are here!"

So they continued. The hallway led them to a door, made of a purple stone and engraved with some kind of crest. It depicted two bird's wings stretched out like it was about to take off, wrapping around a circle with lines coming from it. "Have you ever seen this symbol before?" asked Elizabeth.

Ellie shook her head. "Your guess is as good as mine." She pushed on the door, assuming it would be locked, but it managed to pop open, the heavy doors straining her arms and causing an ear-splitting creek.

Elizabeth moved to the side of their friend when she had enough room, pushing against the door so it would open wide enough. Once both of them had caught their breath, they continued into the strange underground pathway.

The first few steps were in complete darkness. Only by feeling the cave walls and the space in front of them did they know that they were not about to run into anything. The space they walked along had the same texture and bounce as the soil and flowers from before.

Then, the lights came on. A few heat lamps had been set up in the area to aid the flowers, as the sunlight would never be able to reach them. All of the plugs were connected to a single shock breaker. Right next to it was a small, silver radio.

Ellie's father had always had a special interest in household appliances, so she was the one to scoop it up. The thing was not even the size of a shoebox, and its casing was nothing but a matte painted plastic. The two dials on its side were dusty and the antenna was crooked but she could still tell something was special about it. The two speakers… "this thing feels like it's staring into my soul!"

Elizabeth began to chuckle. "Ellie, you know that's ridiculous."

Her cheeks grew warm. "I know, but-"

"Hiya!"

The two heard a voice, not matching anyone they had ever met before. It sounded as though it came from a blown-out speaker. They looked around for another occupant, but the two were still the only in the room.

"Look down, you silly sausages!" yelled the voice.

Ellie was face-to-face with the radio, except now, two oval-shaped pupils moved across its speakers. The thing laughed. "You're new to the underground, aren't you?"

She dropped the radio on its 'face,' and the two of them backed away. "Come on, that's no way to greet a friend!" Its four stubby legs flailed around, unable to get back on its feet.

"What are you?" Elizabeth asked, holding out the long, twisted stick as if it was a spear.

The radio finally managed to shift itself back into an upright position. "I'm Didi! Didi the Radio!"

Ellie held onto Elizabeth's free hand. "Are there any others like you?"

It, or rather _she,_ nodded. "Geez, you must be so confused. You'll need someone to show you around the place."

Elizabeth stepped forward, taking a second to clear her long brunette bangs from her face. "There's more to this place than just these two gardens?"

"The underground is enormous!" Didi was already skipping towards them, managing a grin even without a mouth through a combination of excited antenna twitches and squinting pupils on her speaker. "I've been through the whole place myself, many times. Going through it is second nature by now. That's why I'd be the perfect buddy to guide you!"

While Elizabeth was nervous, both in trusting a stranger and trusting a radio that talked on its own and moved in ways plastic should not be able to, Ellie was more excited. This was the kind of thing her Dad would tell stories about! She was eager to trust the little appliance; she seemed to cute and friendly to hurt them. And if she tried, she was so small a heavy step would be all that was needed to crush her.

"Do you know how to get out of here?" asked the long-haired girl.

Didi frowned. "Come on, wouldn't you like to stay just a little longer? It's pretty lonely down here, and we don't get guests often!"

"I can see why," said Ellie, looking around for any sort of exit in this room, all the while picking at the band-aid stuck on the back of her left hand. All she could find was the trim of another door, identical to the one before, but instead of a door, there was a network of complicated chains that would take hours to untangle.

"Two young kids like you crawling through a dangerous place like this?" she returned to her chipper tone. "That's just a recipe for disaster! You're going to need somebody like me to show you how things work around here!"

Before anyone even had a chance to speak up, Didi ripped the shock breaker from its socket, and the room was once again plunged into darkness.

In front of the girls appeared two fist-sized hearts, the squishy, cartoony kind scene on TV. Both of them were a bright tomato red and looked so real, but when Ellie reach out to touch hers, her hand passed through. "Are these… holograms?"

They heard Didi chuckle, only visible from the glowing light of the hearts. "No! To be honest, everyone has different words for them, but 'holograms' is never one. People call them souls, spirits, soul power… the really fancy say 'essence of your being.' She mimed out the placing of a fancy monocle with her antenna during the last part and spoke with an exaggerated accent. Ellie giggled, Elizabeth only smiled a little. "I've always called them 'the thing you attack people with!' But, attacks are few and far between here."

The radio continued blabbing on, both girls curious to what she had to say. They had stumbled into something strange, possibly dangerous, but they knew there was no turning back now. "You can move them around. You just have to think about it. Go ahead, try!"

Ellie was the first to try, imaging the heart pacing forward, just a small, stone's throw away. It shot straight ahead, with no hesitation at all. "Wow!"

Elizabeth tried a similar move, her soul bobbling between left and right like a buoy left on the sprawling ocean. "This is incredible!" Now that she thought of it, to an appliance like Didi, the ocean may be some huge insult or threat, so she calmed the movement to a simple twirl.

"Now, your souls start off puny, but they'll grow stronger if you earn LOVE!" Didi said in a sing-song voice. "You two want love, don't you? Of course, you do! Everyone does! And today's your lucky day, as the underground has more love than a fancy restaurant on Mother's Day!"

"Whew, at least we're somewhere friendly," Ellie sighed. Elizabeth nodded.

The little radio continued. "In fact, I'll share some with you right now!" Her antenna shot straight up, extending to its full, un-crooked length. It twirled in a circle a few times, before white music notes came off of it, along with the buzz of static. "Use your soul-thingies, and collect as many as you can. You'll have lots of love in no time!"

Of course, the two girls maneuvered the hearts to catch them. And as soon as they touched the onslaught of glowing white notes, a wave of pain was sent through their bodies.

Ellie screamed out. "What _was_ that!" It was worse than all the times she had ever stubbed her toe on her workbench or tripped on her muddy, untied shoelaces _combined,_ throughout her whole body. She would be throwing her breakfast up any second now. Elizabeth did not make a sound, rather, she collapsed onto the ground. Both of them were in no condition to walk much further, and Ellie knew she would not be able to carry her friend.

Didi did not feel anything. She was laughing like a hyena, her friendly demeanor replaced with a hostile smirk. "You little _idiots!_ In this world, it's kill or be killed!"

Another wave of the antenna and the girls were enclosed in a circle of music notes. They were coming in closer, and closer… She and her floating heart with throbbing, waves of pain shooting through them. Ellie knew one more blast would be enough to make her pass out, or even worse…

The whole time, Didi continued to taunt them with her chuckling. "Die!" she screeched, her voice mixing into the shrill sound of a radio being tuned to fast. It reminded Ellie of the demonic ventriloquist's dummies from the old b-movie horror flicks she spent numerous rainy days watching with her mother. She was told her father loved them even more. The thought of her father, and how he would be seeing her soon made the little girl smile, even as the glow of the notes grew brighter, and her muscles tensed, preparing for-

"Get away from them, you sick creature!" Less than a second passed before the music notes disappeared, and the pain that had racked through her whole body stopped. It was as if she had never been hit in the first place. Elizabeth was able to push herself onto her feet and stood up to face the villainous radio, looking around in confusion.

"Huh? What happened to-"

Before she had a chance to finish her sentence, she was knocked out of the way and into one of the walls by a shiny pink claw. Didi hissed in a sound completely radio, possessing no human-like vocal qualities at all, before running off like a startled cat. She climbed into a crack in the wall too small for anyone but her. Ellie might have been able to jam her foot in, but it would never be a path they could use unless someone broke out a vial of Drink Me.

Nonetheless, they were both glad to see that little thing gone. "I will make sure that terrible appliance doesn't bother you again, kids," said their new company.

This person was not a human either, but a tower crane, the kinds that would be found on a construction site. Her eyes were situated on the claw that was suspended from the top of her tower. She was painted bright pink and only a bit taller than the children themselves.

The two backed away, still fearing she might turn out like Didi. Realizing this, her eyes grew wide. "I will not hurt you. I promise! I am Sweetie, the caretaker of these ruins, and all who fall down here. I would like to help you, with anything you need."

"Do you think we can trust her?" Elizabeth whispered. Ellie nodded.

Sweetie sighed. "I understand if you are nervous. I do not know who you are, and you do not know me, but I promise, while I am watching you, everything will be fine! I will guide you through this place, and show you the ropes!"

The two girls decided to follow Sweetie as she rolled up to the door, all of the chains broken since her entry. "I will have to repair that soon, won't I."

 **Ellie is an OC belonging to Lampi01, while both Elizabeth and Sweetie belong to Lostinawhisper. Thanks for letting me use your characters!**


	3. Unnecessary Suspense

**Chapter Three: Unnecessary Suspense**

Sweetie, as her name suggested, was a sweet and honest crane. Around her neck, if it can even be called as such, she wore a navy blue crocheted scarf with the same winged emblem as before. Elizabeth made a mental note to ask their new friend about that, some time when they had a better handle on the situation.

The crane led her two tired, hungry, but healed humans through the entrance to the main portion of the Ruins. Here, the bricks were no longer lilac, but a much darker shade of blue, along with the dirt floor turning to matching cement. Sturdy trees poked through in patches of dirt, also illuminated by heat lamps, although these did not appear to be alive.

The trees left yellow scattered leaves around everywhere, lining the walls, the floor, and the shoes of children walking through them, leaving no resistance but a soft crinkle.

In front of them were two staircases, though both led to the same platform with (surprise!) another door. Still, this one was wide open, so the two did not pay it much attention.

What they were fixated on was a glowing point between the two staircases. It twinkled like a star, and Ellie reached out her hand to touch it before Elizabeth swatted her away. Sweetie giggled. "Please, do not fear the save point. It has never done me any harm."

"Save point, like in a video game?" Asked Ellie. "Are we… _in_ a video game?"

"Of course not!" their friend replied, tapping a button on the wall. The stairs on the right collapsed into a ramp, which she could roll up easier. "Can you imagine how horrible that would be? No, we just call them that because rumors say they _act_ like save points if touched by the right person. Whatever _that_ means, I guess."

Ellie could no longer hold herself back. She gave the flickering star a tap, and a rush of energy flowed through her veins. It was like Didi's music note attack, except instead of hurting, it was _healing._ The band-aid on her palm fell off as if it knew its services were no longer needed.

While touching the point, she looked up to the patterned on the northern wall, which was the same old crest, but painted in bright colors. The wings were possibly those of a crow or even a raven, and they were bordered by six other circles, all in the couples of the rainbow. Seeing this inspired the girl. She was determined to see the culture of living appliances and their story behind all of this.

Finally, she pulled away and turned to her friend. "Elizabeth! You've got to try this!"

Elizabeth sighed, and gave the point a tap as well, the surge of power flowing through her as well. "Wow, I guess it works for humans then." Sweetie leaned into the point, but nothing happened for her. "That's incredible!"

The brunette nodded. "I know, right? How many of these _are_ there?"

Sweetie shrugged. "I've seen four or five around these ruins. I suppose there are a lot more in the rest of the… nevermind. I'm not actually sure, but if you are ever injured and I cannot come right away, try and get to one of these lights, alright?"

Ellie smirked. "All-light."

"This is why I don't sit with you at school," groaned Elizabeth, facepalming. Sweetie snickered at the pun, even if it was somewhat forced as if it was the funniest thing she ever heard.

The two girls followed their crane caretaker into the next room. This one contained seven buttons, at the perfect height to be stomped on or rolled over by a pink wheel. The door in front of them was closed, and the air was a tad stale from being that deep underground in enclosed rooms.

"Welcome to your new home, little ones!" She continued to speak without giving them a chance to ask for clarification or speak out against staying. "Please, allow me to demonstrate!"

The crane's mobile platform rolled over four of the buttons, the ones farthest from the door. Sure enough, it creaked open, and the room was filled with fresh, cool air, like an early fall breeze. It also picked up a bit of dust landing on the leg of Elizabeth's overalls, but at the moment, that was hardly the worst of her problems.

Sweetie gestured for them to follow her into this next door. "These ruins, they're filled to the brim with puzzles and tests. They serve as a way to keep out unwanted guests, and an easy way to open doors without hands."

"So that's why there are no doorknobs on any of these doors," Elizabeth muttered, following behind Sweetie. Ellie straggled behind for a second, to read the silver placard on the left side of the door.

Engraved into its metal was a language she did not know how to read. It had no characters she recognized either. She dragged her finger along the markings as if the information they held would come to her that way like she had seen in videos of Braille books. "Oh, the sign?" Sweetie poked her head back in. "My Ancient Appliancese is a bit rusty, but I think it says _Watch yourself, don't fall off the path you've chosen._ "

"Is that a metaphor for something?" Ellie asked Sweetie. "Because it sounds like a fortune cookie quote or a horoscope more than anything."

"I have no idea," she smiled. "But I'm sure you can figure it out!"

This next room turned a corner to a long hallway, but with more than enough room for the two girls and the human-sized crane. The room was cut in half by a rocky babbling brook crossed by a thick wooden bridge, the sound reminding Elizabeth of the forests the two of them enjoyed exploring when they weren't falling down hidden caves and talking to radios.

The cracks between bricks were filled with green vines, blue flowers blooming from them, their petals falling to the ground. Behind Sweetie, there was another placard, and a sign (both of which said nothing but 'Stay on the path) posted along a concrete path painted by a lighter shade of purple.

The whole place smelled like the ocean-scented candles at the local supermarket. The ones which were way sweeter than salt water could ever be.

Sweetie drove back a couple inches, letting the girls admire the big room and fresh air, being generated by a series of small fans at the other end. Up ahead of them, they could see more puzzles, but none of them looked too hard. At least, not yet.

"These ruins are beautiful, aren't they?" Sweetie asked them. The two girls nodded in return. "Even if they are old and crumbly, I try to take good care of this place, and the people who live here."

Ellie pushed her round glasses back near her eyes where they belonged. "Are they all appliances too?"

"Yes, appliances, machinery, none of us are human… sadly," the crane sighed, turning away for a moment. "There used to be humans, but they are long gone. Now, the only living thing down here is the occasional rat. Well, that and the flowers, of course!"

She sniffed a blue flower growing on the wall vines. Ellie followed suit, picking one for her friend. Elizabeth shuffled to the side of the bridge. "But why do you have this river here, then?"

"I'm waterproof, see?" She drove over the creaking bridge without a moment's hesitation, and even as the water splashed her tires, she did not short circuit. "Back when I was up above on the surface, I had to be resistant to the weather, you know. But for appliances who are not, we have a set of bumpers around here somewhere to allow them safe passage."

"I… didn't realize you lived on the surface before," Elizabeth whispered.

Sweetie chuckled. "There is a lot for you to learn, but right now you both seem very bright! But that's not the only reason. Before the CORE was constructed, water generators were the only way we could generate electricity. Nowadays, they are largely redundant, but I keep them around because it makes getting clean a lot easier."

"Now, I'm sure you have plenty of questions, all of which I will answer when we get home, but I need you to prove that you will be safe here. See those three switches?" Sweetie gestured to three silver switches, all embedded in the wall. "Choose which ones you think need to be pressed for us to keep going."

The doorway to the east of them had large spikes surrounding it as opposed to a regular door. Then again, when anyone coming through was either a small appliance or had to rely on wheels, spikes would be just as effective at keeping unwanted visitors out.

Two of the levers had a small divergence from the main path leading up to them. The last one did not. Both girls recognized this pattern and ran to a working switch. Little effort or strain was required to pull the levers down, and once both girls were done, the spikes descended, leaving a smooth floor to cross.

"Wonderful!" exclaimed Sweetie. "I am so proud of you, little ones! Now, we should move on to the next room, if we want to return home before it gets cold."

This next room led up north once again and was only a bit bigger than the one where they met Didi. The thought of that… thing still gave Ellie the shivers.

Another appliance was sitting in this room. A tall chrome vacuum with a kelly green bag, obviously alive because of his bag-rimmed eyelids, but he did not say anything as they entered.

Sweetie drove up to him, standing by his side. "Now, as a human living in the underground, there will be danger from time to time." Still, he did not react. In fact, Elizabeth got the sneaking suspicion he was trying to take a good nap and that their adventure was interfering with that.

"Ma'am, do you think we are bothering him?"

She shook her 'head,' smiling. "Not at all! Kirby's just a bit shy. Anyway, you need to be prepared in case anyone tries to hurt you. If anyone ever threatens you or tries to force you into something you deem unsafe, simply stall for time, and I will come and find you. This place is not too big, so you won't be in harm's way for very long at all."

Kirby opened one eye a bit, nodded, and returned to his previous still state. Sweetie noticed this and grinned. "Hey, why don't you try talking to Kirby?"

Both of his eyes widened. "I don't want anything to do with this?"

She sighed. "Come on, buddy. Just for me?" He groaned for a moment but finally nodded.

The two girls walked up to him, Ellie kneeling down to meet him closer to his eye-level. As she did, her soul popped up once again.

Seeing this, Ellie shot back away to the edge of the wall. Already her palms grew sweaty. "Please don't hurt me, sir!"

He rolled his eyes. "If I'm not attacking, there isn't anything I can do to you little rascals!" The vacuum drove away, back into the room where they had stood only a few minutes ago.

Sweetie sighed, giving the scared little girl a light tap on the head. "Seems he wasn't much for conversation, huh. But most appliances will be happy to talk with you. Let us continue on, then."

The next room was another long hallway, and both girls were growing bored of the same old colors and needless puzzles, but both decided not to say anything. The hallway here was crooked and thin, so they had to follow behind one another once again.

This time, Elizabeth was first, only behind Sweetie. Turning around a corner, something knocked against her calf. Looking down, it was a white plastic fan, the short, circular kind found spinning in the overheated classrooms. Except, this one had eyes on its front, and a cord held out to shake her hand. "Oh, hi, little buddy."

As soon as she accepted the offer, she saw her own soul pop out of nowhere. "Um… what does this mean?"

Ellie shrugged, stepping back, but this time only by a couple steps. "I have no idea! Maybe we should- WATCH OUT!"

Elizabeth turned just in time to watch a straight line poke her soul. She grimaced, prepared for another wave of black-out pain, but this time, it hardly hurt at all. She had paper cuts worse that the tiny bump.

"Now it's your move!" shouted the air conditioner, bouncing like he was ready to get into a brawl. Hit me with your best shot!"

"Umm… I don't think-"

"Come on, come on, I can take it!"

Ellie gasped, an idea coming to her mind. "Are you some sort of… appliance… boxer?"

"No, but I can take anyone in this room!" He looked around. "You, you, that lady you're with, the vacuum…"

"We've heard of you," she grinned. "In fact, you're our number one _fan._ " Elizabeth groaned. The fan blushed and squeaked in excitement. That was until _she_ arrived.

"Excuse me, why are you tormenting these two innocent children?" The familiar rumble of wheels on concrete approached.

He turned away, bolting back the same way Kirby did. "Sorry, Ma'am. I'll be going!"

The rest of the crooked hallway was passed through with no interruption. They arrived at a larger river, this one with a bridge of spikes laid out across it. Sweetie looked over it for a moment, before shaking her head. "This is the puzzle, but after that… I think you two could use a break. Follow me, please."

Sweetie rolled onto the spikes, but they did not poke through her tires. In fact, these ones appeared to be made out of plastic, and the tiniest bit of pressure caused them to recede into the ground. "Only certain portions of this bridge are safe, so watch my path closely." She made several twists and turns, the girls copying. Soon enough, the party was back on solid ground.

"That was fun," said Ellie. "Like a real life Indiana Jones booby trap!"

Elizabeth, however, was still shaking a little. "I was so afraid I was going to make a wrong move and impale my foot!"

"Yes, but now you are across, and all is well, is it not?" The two looked to each other, sighed, and continued to pass through yet another hallway.

The room they were now in was much, much longer than it was wide, with no decorations or appliances hiding within, except for a single pillar at the end. "So far, you two have done great, but I need to make sure you can survive without me."

The two looked up to her in fear, color draining from their faces. "No, you will not get hurt, I promise! I just need to test your independence. Please, walk to the end of this hall without me."

Before they had a chance to protest, she was driving down the hall at top speed, which considering she was a slow moving crane only slightly bigger than a human, was not that much, but was still a speed they would not be able to match.

When she was out of view, Elizabeth turned to her friend. "What are we doing here? We should be waiting by the exit so they can find us!"

Ellie's brow lowered. "You'd rather sit around there instead of figuring out what all of this is? You'd rather go home than explore this place?"

She sighed, running her fingers through her long hair. "No, but… your Mom has to be worried about you, right?"

"I know, but…" she turned away, hands in the pockets of her skirt. "I have a feeling that there is something important in all of this. A quest we need to complete or at least _something._ It's like in the books and movies! A young kid stumbles upon a hidden world, befriends the locals, and liberates them! Don't you want to be a hero, Lizzy?"

"True, but…"

"Besides, after how much she has shown us so far, I don't think Sweetie is out to hurt us."

"What if we run into someone else like Didi? What will we do if she can't get to us in time?"

Ellie did not want to doubt herself. Her curiosity was near unbearable, and she did not want to keep Sweetie waiting. She forced the butterflies in her stomach Elizabeth had awoken to calm down again, and she walked down the path. Gingerly at first, but gaining confidence once again. Elizabeth sighed and took a moment to question why she was doing this at all, but was soon rushing to keep up.

When they got to the end, Sweetie rolled out from behind the pillar. "Salutations! I hope I did not keep you waiting too long."

"No, we needed a moment to talk anyway," Elizabeth hissed. "Did we do well?"

"Yes, you did. And thank you," she said, leaning her claw head against Elizabeth in a form of hug. "Thank you for trusting me. Now, as much as I hate to say this, I need to leave you here for a bit. It will not take too long, but please, stay here. It could be dangerous to explore without a guide."

"Where are you going?" Ellie asked.

She gave her a quick nustle too. "I need to run some errands, and I don't know if the clerks would take too kindly to human visitors. As I said, it will only take a moment!"

The crane thought for a moment. "Though, I can see you are nervous. How about I give you each a cell phone, and you can call me if anything happens? I will come rolling back, quicker than you can say 'handsome lamp man,' alright?"

"Handsome… lamp man?"

She sighed. "That's a long story, but here you go!" She unraveled her scarf, and two cell phones fell out of it with a loud thud. Still, they remained unshattered. They were the old kind, the ones with shells that could take a bullet but could not do anything other than actual calls. And stop bullets.

"Wait, aren't the phones alive too? I don't know how comfortable I feel using a living phone," said Elizabeth, while Ellie was already opening hers up to examine it.

"Thankfully, not _all_ appliances come alive," Sweetie responded. "Only the lucky ones. Or unlucky, depending on how you look at it. But I'm happy to be alive, especially if I get to meet wonderful people like you!"

Ellie gave her another hug, Elizabeth following suit. Even if she did want to get out of the mountain and away from this weird living appliance cave, she had to admit Sweetie had the makings for a great friend or even a caretaker.

"Now, I must be off," she said, turning to exit the room. "You two be good, alright?"

Ellie waved. "Yes, ma'am!"


	4. Blanket Fight

**Chapter Four: Blanket Fight**

Sweetie had only been gone for a few minutes, but the girls were already starting to grow bored. "So we're back to waiting again," said Elizabeth, dragging her stick along the concrete floor. "Who knows if the traps would even be operable going back? What if we're trapped here?"

Ellie sighed, leaning up against the cold wall, thankful her body heat warmed it up. The living fans scattered about the ruins kept everything at just a few degrees below a comfortable room temperature. At least, for humans. She decided that when Sweetie returned, she would ask to borrow her scarf.

That blue scarf, it was crocheted with a thin single stitch, the insignia or crest or whatever it was that showed up everywhere within the cave on a small patch, painstakingly embroidered onto the main structure. Whoever made it must have spent forever, and have the steadiest of hands. She formed the image of an old crane grandma in her head, rocking back and forth in a giant chair while whining about the 'youth these days and their electronic music

"Ellie, are you there?" she was ripped from her thoughts by a pacing Elizabeth.

She nodded. "Yeah, just thinking."

"About what?"

"I was trying to figure out where Sweetie went." Her hand was in her pocket where it would be kept warm, and just then, she felt the cold plastic from… "The cell phone!"

Elizabeth's right eyebrow lowered. "What?"

Ellie gave her a big grin, already searching through the contacts, which was not the easiest task with how small the screen was. "I'm going to call Sweetie and see if we can talk to her! Or at least find out what this 'errand' is."

The brunette nodded. "Okay, you can do that. I'm going to see what is up ahead."

"But she said for us to stay here!" She ran over to her. "I know you don't trust her, but-"

"I never said I didn't."

"You implied it."

She held her hand up to her face, letting out a deep sigh. "Ellie, this all seems too good to be true. We're always told not to trust strangers, and-"

"Sweetie saved us from getting _killed._ Besides, I doubt those rules apply when the stranger in question is a _living crane._ " She shook her head, knocking her raven ponytail off of her right shoulder. "Chances are, either we're in Wonderland, or I hit my head on the way down and this is some trauma-induced fever dream. Either way, I don't want to waste my chance to see something incredible."

Elizabeth thought over this for a moment, looking down at the brown stick held in her hand as it swayed. "Then come with me. Let's explore and see everything this tunnel has to offer."

She nodded with a laugh. "Sure thing. I'm not letting _you_ have all the fun. Besides, _someone's_ got to keep you out of trouble."

"Keep me out of trouble?" asked Elizabeth as they stepped into the next room. "You've the one who wanted to come this way in the first place!"

They heard a ring on Elizabeth's phone, the ringtone a perfect replication of an old antique. She picked it up to hear a familiar voice on speaker. "Salutations! This is Sweetie. Please tell me you haven't left the room!"

The girls turned to each other. Ellie shrugged, unsure of what to say. "No, ma'am!"

"Great," she sighed on the other line. "There are a few puzzles ahead which might cause some trouble, and the last thing I want is for you to get hurt. I know you two are bright, but solving them on your own might be dangerous. Be good, alright?"

The two agreed and ended the call, Elizabeth shoving the old phone back into the pocket of her overalls. Now that the conversation was over, they could continue to explore. They just hoped they had enough time to get back before Sweetie returned to find them missing.

Like all the other rooms before, this one doubled as a hallway and led into the next, but not before taking a southward dip. There was also a doorless opening to a room in the north, but there was no light so they could not yet see what was inside. Yellow leaves were gathered in bunches for various piles, another save point floating above one. Standing to their left, and on the edge of the path through the ruins, they found a second talking desktop fan.

Ellie rushed to the save point to see if it held the same effect as the previous one. Sure enough, it did, but not as strong. Now, it was more of a positive feeling in her mind, a sense of determination and drive to see the end of this. She was sure she stumbled down here for a reason, and she was going to find out why.

"Excuse me, humans." They turned around to see the fan at the entrance to the room approaching them. "I have some advice for you, in concerns to battling appliances. Most of us do not like to duel. If you treat us well, or have weakened one of us enough, please, have mercy."

They nodded. "Of course!" Ellie gave the fan a pat on the head. "Why would I want to hurt one of you?"

He shook his head. "I do not know. It has been so long since a human passed by. I have only heard rumors, and they are not always pleasant."

They left the fan with an assurance they would not harm the other appliances unless absolutely necessary. Besides, crushing a small fan would be easy, but what about a larger machine like Sweetie? Even someone small like Didi could gain the upper hand in battle pretty quickly. It was for their own protection as much as the other appliances.

Ellie went to the northern room, while Elizabeth decided to continue on the path. It took a moment of feeling along the cold, rocky walls, but she found a light switch. The room was bordered by another flowing river, and in the center, there was a single pedestal, with a bowl of…

"Taffy!" she exclaimed. "Elizabeth, I found some taffy!"

The other girl rushed back from her expedition, waving to the fan once again before joining Ellie. "The sign says 'Please take one.' Well, since there are two of us, I guess-"

"-I don't think they'll know if we take just a few more!" Ellie was already shoving a handful of candy into her pockets.

Elizabeth could not help but laugh at her best friend, before taking one for herself and showing her what she found. "So in this next hall, the floor gives out beneath me whenever I try to cross. There's a pile of leaves below to break your fall so you won't get hurt, but I haven't figured out how to cross yet."

Ellie, almost not believing her friend, stepped onto the darker region, and sure enough her weight broke through the paper thin ground and she landed in the yellow leaves below, their crinkling sound filling the air as she made contact. The room was dark, but a single dim light showed her two different exits. Unlike Elizabeth, she took the exit on the right.

It turned out to be an old fashioned dumbwaiter, just big enough to carry a person. This made sense to Ellie, as a world of appliances would not need much bigger. In fact, the reason why it was big enough for her at all in the first place might only be so Sweetie could ride.

The ride back to the original floor was easy and only took a couple seconds. She emerged on the other side, Elizabeth in shock. "How did you do that?"

"I took the _other_ door."

Elizabeth only had a chance to try one door, and assumed that since both led to the same floor, it did not matter which one she took. Facepalming, she followed Ellie's example and continued forward.

Again, they were faced with another puzzle, this one simple enough they already knew the solution without any help: just push the large rock onto the scale to get past the wall of spikes. But before they had a chance to, the phone rang again. This time, it was Ellie's.

She picked it up. "Hello!"

"This is Sweetie, again." she laughed to herself. "I am just wondering, which do you prefer? Maple, or cherry?"

Ellie did not even need a moment to think about it. "Cherry!"

"And is Elizabeth okay with that?" The other girl nodded, and Ellie relayed it back. "Wonderful! But would you still be alright with maple? I know what your preference is, but-"

"No, that's fine!" She was grinning from ear to ear, already knowing they had a treat waiting for them. "Goodbye!" Closing her phone, she was shaking with excitement. "You know what this means?"

"Yeah, we have to get back to that room so she knows where to find us when this 'errand' is done." Still, Elizabeth was not going to leave her friend. Who knew what kind of trouble she would get into alone? So she helped her push the gray rock. With both of them working, it did not take too long at all, and only a couple beads of sweat were shed.

 _Three out of four gray rocks recommend you push them._ Ellie read the sign on the northern wall. "Do you think the rocks can talk too?"

Elizabeth did not respond. She did not have time to, as another appliance hopped in front of her, and as if on cue, the soul heart appeared once again. "Oh no…"

The shivering alarm clock looked just as surprised to see her as she was to see it. "Please don't hurt me," she muttered. "Please, please don't hurt me."

"Of course not!" Elizabeth kneeled down to give the clock her piece of taffy, but before she had a chance, it had already scurried off.

The rest of the puzzles were not too difficult, and the girls passed through without having to hurt any appliances. Ellie was not sure she even could if she had to, as some of them were just too cute! But was not cute was the _rat._

One of the thin hallways had a small hole in the wall, with the tail of a rat sticking out and a slice of cheese on a table. She knew what this meant, and ran to the other side as fast as she could, her heart racing. "Elizabeth, it's a rat!"

"I know, I know, you don't like rats." She ripped off a piece of cheese from the table, and placed it by the hole. "Sorry for disturbing your space, little buddy." They left before they could see if the rat accepted their offer, or stayed in its hole.

The save point in the next room managed to calm Elizabeth down and soothe her racing heart and nerves. The only other thing in the room was a pile of leaves and a blanket laid out on them.

"Hey Elizabeth, check this out!" Picking up the blanket, she tied two corners around her neck to make a fuzzy yellow cape. It was a rather heavy blanket, filled with electric wires weighing it down. And yet, the weight on her shoulders grew lighter, and the warm embrace lessened.

She turned around to see the yellow blanket's head emerging, a plastic square with a little knob nose and beady eyes. "Are you… my master?" He spoke as if he had just woken up.

"Umm… I don't know you," she muttered, trying to pull away. But she could not, as the blanket's grip grew tighter, beginning to wrap around her.

As he squeezed her in a tight hug, he continued to ramble. "My Master left me behind so long ago… I miss him…"

The hug continued to grow tighter, and what made her heart warm at first was now strangling. "You need… to let go!" Ellie was gasping for air.

Elizabeth held out her stick as if it was a sword, ready to rip the blanket if it did not go. She was not going to kill the poor thing, but she could not just stand around and let it strangle her friend either.

Her steps were fast, pounding against the cement floor and echoing off the walls. When she was in arm's reach of the little yellow fuzzball, both of their souls appeared.

Ellie continued to struggle against the grip of the blanket, hoping to get a hand free and tear it off of her. Elizabeth was already trying to get a hold on it, but the constant squirming was proving difficult. "Please don't leave me," he cried. "We're all alone down here."

"Buddy, please!" With a tight squeeze and a sharp jolt, Ellie could feel herself losing health once again. This time, it was not at the same rate as Didi. This was a single stumble or stubbed toe, not a wave of blackout pain.

The soul reacted, shivering in turn for a moment. Not that she had much time to think about it. The blanket continued to hug and wail. "It's so lonely here!"

Elizabeth gave the blanket a graze with her stick, too afraid to strike in fear of hurting Ellie. This seemed enough to catch his attention. He turned up to face her, beady eyes wide. "Have _you_ seen my master?"

"No…" she was scrambling for what to say. "But… I'm sure that even if he left, he'll be back for you as soon as possible."

"Yeah," Ellie chuckled, a sarcastic but supportive tone in her voice. "I don't think he could forget somebody like you. You're special."

The little Blankey blushed. "Wow, thank you so much!" Without another word, he slithered off of Ellie, crawling into the northwestern corner to fall asleep once again. Ellie's racing heart began to calm down as she stretched her limbs.

"Are you okay, Ellie?" her friend asked her, taking her hand where the wound once under the bandage was beginning to open again.

She nodded. "Yes! Just… next time you see one of those 'save points,' tell me, okay?"

"Sure thing." The brunette thought to herself for a moment. "Do you know what me meant by 'master?' Have you ever heard that before?"

Ellie's hands rubbed her shoulder, which had grown sore from the tight embrace. "Well, everyone down here except for us is an appliance, so maybe their master is their owner?"

"Hmm, that makes sense," she remarked. "But if we're the only ones here… that means he's..."

She put her hand over her friend's mouth. "Don't wake him up now." Once she nodded in agreement, she let go. "Where should we head next. East, or North?"

"East," Elizabeth replied. It only looks like there's one more room down that hall. Let's see what it is in there while we're here."

"Good plan." They entered the next room, which was barren except for two nets in front of holes in the wall, big enough for perhaps a water bottle but not a whole human, and a wooden sign posted in front.

Elizabeth read the sign. "Bake Sale: All proceeds go to the Home Range Elementary School."

"Home Range? Is that like a city?" Ellie's eyes grew wide. "What if there are whole cities down here?"

"Do you think I know?"

"Sorry," she mumbled.

Elizabeth shook her head, not wanting to hurt her friend's feelings. "No, I'm sorry I shouldn't have snapped like that. But what do we do here? Do you have any money?"

"Yes! One of those fans dropped a few coins when you complimented her!" Ellie grabbed the handful of coins in her pocket. They were golden and thin like the kind in Easter baskets, but by weight alone she knew they were not edible. She placed five in the smaller of the nets to see what happened.

It only took a few seconds before a plastic take out box was pushed through the hole, and fell into the net. _Thank you for your donation!_ was scribbled on the top. As it was opened, they were created with the smell of cheddar biscuits.


	5. Appliance Approaching

**Chapter Five: Appliance Approaching**

The room to the north was long and chilly, like all the rooms before it, but thankfully, this one had no puzzles. The only other occupants were another three fans talking amongst themselves, a shoebox-sized microscope like the one the girls saw in their science classroom but never got a chance to use, and what appeared to be a fourth fan, like the others but small enough to fit in a nook between two of the violet bricks.

"Ellie, check this out!" Elizabeth waved her friend over. "It's like a baby fan or something!"

Ellie shivered at the thought, having flashbacks from the time she had to babysit for a family friend. It did not seem like a hard task so she accepted. Besides, those twenty bucks would be a great help in saving up for the lava lamp she saw at the mall. She had no idea they needed her to take care of not one, not two, but _six_ balls of snot and tears. "Okay, maybe I shouldn't have said that," Elizabeth sighed. "Still, it's pretty cute!"

She gave the tiny fan a pat on the head before continuing along the path. It waved back to the both of them. As she walked, her foot bumped into another appliance, the little microscope who looked ready for a fight.

"I see every move you make," she growled. "You two should be _dead_ by now."

One of the fans shook his head, rotating to hit them with a soft breeze for a few second, ruffling their bangs. "Don't listen to Luz. She's just a bully looking for a fight."

"Yeah, I'll fight you and I'll kill you and I'll take your souls and become a hero!" She was laughing like a hyena on helium. "Everyone will know me as the one who freed us from this cave!"

Ellie was terrified, stepping back and raising her hands up like a criminal caught in the act. Sure, the microscope was small, but Didi proved the even the smallest residents here could be a big pain when they fought. And sure enough, the two souls appeared, unprotected.

Elizabeth raised her stick again, ready to swat the little nuisance away. Still, she decided to try and negotiate before resorting to violence. "Killing isn't going to make you a hero, and it sure isn't going to get you up to the cave's entrance. If you want to get out of here, I recommend getting a grappling hook, a rope or at least something that makes sense _,_ but not a couple of dead bodies!"

Luz chuckled. "Wow, these two ignoramuses don't even know the legend behind this place. Maybe if you had, you wouldn't have been so stupid as to be playing around a giant hole!"

"Legend? What-" before Elizabeth had a chance to finish her sentence, she was hit in the chest with another glowing white symbol. The little microscope launched a hoard of tiny snowflake-shaped spinning stars towards the both of them. When hit, Elizabeth looked up to see a bar above her head, which was bright yellow at first but decreased by around a fourth, the empty portion filling up with red.

A similar bar appeared above Ellie, but hers was already missing a small portion and had decreased to almost half way. _That must be from the damage she took during the blanket fight! If it runs out, she might…_

Elizabeth was not going to let that happen. Not on her watch.

She ran towards Luz, both hands grabbing her stick so tight she was sure she was going to have splinters afterward, but she did not care one bit. Her adrenaline was rising, and her heart was racing, drowning out the perpetual echo of fans. She swung at the bully appliance, making sure to scrape her shiny white metal.

As much as Elizabeth wanted to continue, to take her anger out on an acceptable target, she knew she should not stoop to her level. Besides, on the third hit, the stick snapped, pieces flying in every direction. A health bar appeared above Luz, now drained a third of the way. "Is that enough to get the picture?"

The microscope did not even respond, dashing away out of sight. The hearts and health bars vanished, and the three large fans began to applaud.

"You're the first one to stand up to that little jerk," said the first fan. "She's always interrupting me when I try to talk and-"

The second fan bounced towards them. "Yeah! Thanks for getting her out of here!"

The first one sighed. "Not you too!"

Elizabeth's cheeks grew warm, her hands still gripped tight. "Please, I didn't do anything good! I don't want to hurt anybody!"

Ellie gave her a pat on the shoulder. "Yes, but you saved me, and that at least deserves a thank you."

"We need to get to Sweetie," she fretted. "Or another save point."

As if on cue, Elizabeth's phone began to ring. "Salutations! I called to apologize for the mess. It's been so long since anyone stopped by. Anyway, chances are I've left some stuff around here. Feel free to keep them, but make sure to make room for what you _really_ need, alright?"

It was a strange reason to call, but Elizabeth agreed. "Okay. See you soon!"

As she hung up, Ellie glared towards her. "Why didn't you tell her to come now?"

"Because we aren't where she told us to stay," she sighed. "I don't want her searching all over the place and getting worked up because she can't find us."

Ellie was about to point out how leaving was her idea in the first place, but decided not to. She didn't need an angry Elizabeth on top of everything else, especially after how she might have saved her life. So they resumed their expedition, walking into yet another lilac room.

It was another hallway, and the girls were beginning to question if the ruins ever ended. This one had six of the trap doors they had found before, and six more dumbwaiters. The sign on the wall read _Pull the switch to open the door._

"Well, I can't see any switches around here…" Ellie said, looking around, "so I'm guessing it's down below."

Elizabeth nodded. "Right. How about I try the northern doors, and you do the southern?"

"Sounds like a deal to me!" She was already walking to the leftmost trap door on the southern side. Stepping on, she was sent down below into the leaves once again. Pulling them out of her hair, she had just enough room to stand up.

Light came in through the hole she had opened, enough to see the treasure that was laid out before her. Well, _treasure_ was hardly the right word, but it was still not what she was expecting.

A set of play fairy's wings, the kind purchased at a theme park for five dollars. Except, they had to be much higher quality than that. The thread was too tightly woven together, and the material reminded Ellie of her mother's finest silk dress.

Years of sitting in the dark had preserved their bright orange color. As ridiculous as she felt, Ellie could not help but put the monarch's wings on. They were so light in weight she was not sure if they were there for a second.

"Elizabeth, check this out!" she yelled as she exited the dumbwaiter, almost forgetting the box of cheddar biscuits she was carrying. Almost.

The other girl liked her new wings as well. "You look great, buddy! I wonder who left those here."

She shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe they had an appliance comic-con? Wow, that sounds fun."

"Anyway, I found the switch," she smiled, gesturing to the open doorway. "It was the one in the middle."

There were only a few puzzles left, which might have been tough if not for the fact that all the instructions were written on placards, so the girls did not have much trouble. The only thing that stopped them for a second was the attack of another microscope, but even he backed down after the girls refused to hurt him.

At last, they had reached the final hallway. Two more rooms were attached, but this appeared to be the final portion, something both girls were thankful for. Elizabeth decided to investigate the eastern room, just to make sure it really was the end.

It was the end of the path, no doubt. But not the end of the tunnel. A glass wall was all that separated Elizabeth from the view below them. A sprawling city of blue brick and yellow lights illuminating open windows. The whole time, the area they had been exploring through, was so small compared to everything else hidden under Mount Hyperion.

She stood for a few moments, in awe of the lovely view below the simple balcony. Ellie joined her, reaching out to touch the glass.

In the reflection, Elizabeth saw something lying next to her. On her left side, somebody had left a shovel. Not a big one, or even a real one, but the green plastic kind a kid might get for Christmas if they sit around the family garden for too long. It probably wasn't useful for much, but she decided to take it.

"Your wings don't look so cool _now,_ do they," she joked. "You might be a fairy, but I've got… a SHOVEL!" She hoisted it in the air

Ellie giggled. "Just don't forget about me when you're famous."

They returned to the main path and entered the final room in the (almost) never ending hallway. The concrete floor stopped and was replaced with a dirt trail. Both walls to the left and right were bordered in fresh carnations of every color, wrapping around to line the front of a cream-colored cottage. But the best part of it all was who they found there.

Sweetie.


	6. Home Sweet Home

**Chapter Six: Home Sweet Home**

Sweetie rushed over to the two girls as soon as she saw them. "How did you get here?" She gave Ellie a loving nudge. "What happened to you? And… where did you find those…" she trailed off for a moment. "Nevermind. I'm sure you had a good reason to follow me."

Elizabeth nodded. "We're just glad to see you again."

"Me too," she sighed in relief. "I was irresponsible. I wanted to surprise you, but I just put you in danger."

"We're fine, Ma'am," Ellie grinned. "I got a little bruised, but I'll be fine! Humans don't take that long to heal."

"I sure hope so," she mumbled. "Please, come inside with me. I have a gift!"

They ran up to the door, excited. It was already opened. But before they did, they both reached out to the nearby save point. Already, Ellie felt her wounds disappear, and the pain left.

The walls in Sweetie's house were a pale pastel pink, much lighter than her own paint. The floors were the color of dry beach sand, with matching cappuccino carpeting on the stairs. "Do you smell that? I decided to bake some cake, but it is still too hot to eat at the moment."

The girls sighed, but in the end, were just happy to get cake and have a break from the endless purple maze. Sweetie continued, leading them down the hallway on the right. "Maple Cherry cake, in fact! It might sound weird, but it's a personal favorite of mine."

"Appliances can eat?" Ellie was surprised.

"Yep! Well, most of us. A few end up without mouths, but even then, it is not necessary for us like it is with humans. You might heal quicker, but you're not best at _everything._ Anyway, I wanted to celebrate you coming here, so I suppose we can hold off on the vegetables just for tonight."

"Tonight?" Elizabeth's concern was ignored.

The crane's eyes showed happiness and love as she led them down the hallway. The right side was completely empty other than pictures of her standing with various humans, while the left had three doors. She gestured for them to open the first. "A new bedroom, where you two can stay as long as you need."

Ellie turned the doorknob, pushing through to enter the bedroom. It had not been occupied for a long time, evident by the thin layer of dust covering the furniture and the musty smell. Still, both girls were happy to see a bed, as they were tired and had just gone through a long journey. Little did they know how much farther they would travel.

"I'm going to go check on the pie," Sweetie said. "You can make yourself at home."

The room had dandelion yellow walls, and a twin bed on either side, neatly made with purple quilts and topped with crocheted stuffed appliances. The dresser and desk both appeared to be oak wood, how it got down there neither of them was sure. Bright doodles and messy cut-outs from coloring books adorned the walls like bees on a honeycomb.

Ellie opened the door of the dresser, and inside was a single seafoam green backpack and nothing else. "Do you think Sweetie will let us take this? I mean, if there end up being more cheddar biscuit stations, I'd kind of like to have my hands empty."

"You bought four biscuits. Isn't that enough?" Elizabeth sat down on the left bed, fingers dragging along the flannel pillow case. "Let me guess, I'm not getting any."

"Of course, you are!" She gave the box another whiff. They were still warm and practically begging to be eaten. "That's why I got so many. So we can share!"

Elizabeth smiled. Her friend was a bit eccentric, but always had her best interest in mind. "Thanks, buddy. But let's save them for later. I mean, Sweetie's made a whole cake!"

As she said this, her eyes grew wide. "Ellie! I think she's trying to hold us captive here!"

"Yeah, I can see why," she said, feet shuffling. "But I'm sure it's just a misunderstanding! I bet she just assumes we don't have anyone else to watch us, or we came here on purpose or _something._ If we explain, she'll understand!"

Elizabeth nodded. "You know, that's actually a good point. But maybe we should look around, and make sure there aren't any traps?"

"Sounds like a plan to me." Ellie handed her the backpack and the biscuits, which Elizabeth agreed to carry. (That was the only way to make sure Ellie was honest with them.)

The carpet on the beach-colored flooring had a complex paisley pattern filled to the brim with dark blues and bright teals. Ellie loved it so much, she wanted the pattern as a shirt to wear. Potted plants were also set up throughout the hallway, but instead of holding real pants, they were filled with crocheted purple carnations and clumps of yarn threaded to look like dandelions. "Sweetie must be _really_ good at crochet," she remarked.

Elizabeth paused to look at the bouquets. "How does she do that without hands?"

"Yeah!" Ellie chuckled. "I've been crocheting for so long and I doubt I could do anything even _close_ to that, and I have fingers! How does Sweetie even hold the hook!"

"Maybe it's not Sweetie," she suggested. "Didi's antenna did look a bit like a hook. What if they're in cahoots?"

"Like, Sweetie paid Didi to act all evil so she could save us and befriend us and eventually kidnap us?" Ellie shivered. "That sounds pretty plausible."

"Okay, don't panic." Elizabeth gave her a quick hug. "It's going to be alright. We'll find a way out of here if she does, but let's not jump to conclusions. Let's just keep looking for traps, alright?"

The door farthest from the house's entrance was locked, with a 'Do Not Disturb' sign hung from the knob. Still, they did not hear any screaming coming from the room when they knocked, so they assumed it was just under renovation or a storage closet of some sort.

The middle room was the same size as the bedroom they were given but had one queen bed instead of two twins. The mattress was laid out on the floor and surrounded by blankets and pillows with a ramp so Sweetie could climb on. "Looks comfy," Ellie remarked.

The desk had no chair, but instead a rubber mat where a crane could rest her wheels on. A notebook was opened to a messy page, filled with nothing but horrible jokes and puns. _Why did the humidifier have a hard time asking his girlfriend out? Whenever he approached her, things got steamed up! What's a construction worker's favorite pet? A crane-ine!_

"Geez, that's cheesy." They closed the book, deciding it was in their best interest not to waste their time on puns.

The two girls came to accept that nothing dangerous was left in Sweetie's room besides a couple of bad puns, and the realization that they had just snooped in a stranger's bedroom began to weigh down on them. So they headed to the living room, where Sweetie was setting up the dining table.

Two plastic chairs had been dusted off, obviously for a child a bit younger than them but would still work. Matching placemats had also been set out with finger painted pictures. The yellow one was a flower with petals made from hundreds of fingers, with the stem and leaves made from a single green handprint blending into more regular grass strokes. The signature 'Durinda' was written in the bottom left corner. Ellie took a seat, deciding not to ask for now.

Elizabeth's placemat had no signature, but instead a blue sky and a handprint raven, a messy take on the insignia floating above just about everything in the underground. She wondered how an appliance would even be able to make fingerprints, but came to the realization that perhaps, they were not the first to fall down. "Wow, these are so pretty! Did your children make them?"

Sweetie blushed, rolling up to the head of the table, reclining her neck to be eye-level with the kids. "You're both too kind. I really like that about you. And yes, they were. My first two kids… they were quite the artistic bunch."

Ellie looked down, afraid to make eye-contact. "Were? What happened to them? If you don't mind me asking, of course."

"No, I don't," she sighed, turning away herself. "They fell down here like you, and they both died a long time ago." Without a moment's hesitation, she turned back towards them. "But they weren't killed down here! You'll be safe, I promise."

Without a word, Ellie stood up and gave her hug, wrapping her arms around Sweetie's cold metal bars, but refusing to flinch. A warm tear landed on her hand. "Thank you, thank you, dear. I'm so glad to have someone I can talk to here again."

"No problem," she smiled. "And I bet you made a great mother!"

"Yeah, with how well you've been treating us, your kids must have been spoiled rotten."

She chuckled. "I suppose so, but they never let it get to their heads. They made many friends down here, and I am certain you will too. But let's put that aside for now, because…"

A compartment in her pink body opened up to reveal a plate with two cupcakes inside, frosting stretching a few centimeters taller than what should be possible. "Maple cherry cake. My signature recipe!"

Elizabeth took her cupcake but did not feel interested in eating it at the moment. Still, she did not want to be rude the friendly crane, so she stuck her finger in to grab a small amount and licked it. The maple was sweet but faint enough it was not overwhelming, a perfect contrast to the fruity, more 'outgoing' cherry.

Ellie was not quite as reserved, digging in as soon as she got it. "Miss Sweetie, this is the best cupcake I have ever had!" Within a minute, nothing was left of the cupcake but a wrapper and the crumbs.

Sweetie gave her a nudge. "Wow, I'm glad you like it so much! That's all I have for now, but I promise I'll make more in the future, alright?"

Her smile dropped. "But we're going to be gone soon. I bet our parents have already started looking for us. Ugh, I _knew_ we should have left an SOS or _something!_ "

Elizabeth rolled her eyes. "You were the one who wanted to explore! I was going to stay and-"

"Children, stop fighting!" Sweetie raised her voice before either girl had a chance to pull out their worst insults. Then, she calmed down, almost whispering. "Nobody told you about the barrier?"

"No…" Ellie pushed her glasses back up to the bridge of her nose. "Well, there was this one microscope we passed that mentioned something about a barrier, but I don't remember what."

The crane sighed. "They aren't going to find you. The entrance is supposed to be off limits to even the most official of... officials. I'm surprised you even found it in the first place!"

"But what would keep them from finding us?" Elizabeth stood up. "I'm sure they'd allow somebody to come down if they were looking for lost kids."

She closed her eyes, her compartment closing. "Maybe they would, but even if they do, you can't leave. The barrier prevents any human or appliance or other living creature from leaving. Any can enter, but they'll be trapped forever."

Elizabeth could not believe what she was hearing. It took a couple rewinds in her head before she could process it. Based on her blank face, Ellie seemed to be having a similar reaction. "No. No! We can't be stuck here! They'll get us out, they'll-"

"Please, calm down," said Sweetie. "I know it is a lot to take in, but I promise you will be happy here! I have wanted another child to take care of for so long, and I have prepared everything a human needs. Food, water, air, beds, books to read, songs to listen to, everything!"

Ellie shook her head. "But we have families of our own, and they're probably missing us! I'm certain there's another way to get out of this place, maybe not in the ruins, but-"

"You want to… leave the ruins?" The face on her claw grew pale. "No, you can't. Everything past here is too dangerous for such a young human."

"Well, it's not like this place is the safest either," Ellie quipped. "The first person we met down here tried to kill us!"

"And they'll _all_ try to kill you past these doors." She shook her head. "Children, play amongst yourselves and _stay here._ I have something I need to do."

Sweetie rolled away without another word.


	7. Earthquake

**Chapter Seven: Earthquake**

"Maybe… maybe we should have thought of a plan first," said Ellie, watching frozen as Sweetie headed away.

Elizabeth bit her lip. "Ellie! We've got to follow her! With how rushed she is… I bet she knows of an exit, and she's going to seal it off!"

"Oh no oh no oh no!" Ellie bolted from the far end of the living and dining room in pursuit of the pink crane, her friend following close behind. Their final puzzle? Stop Sweetie in time.

Disobeying all they had been taught on stairway safety, they ran down the carpet which had been stretched out with the press of a button to allow a wheeled appliance an easier time descending, like a cushy wheelchair ramp. On any other occasion, Ellie would have tried to use it as a slide, but she was determined not to let Sweetie trap them in the cramped ruins forever.

When they entered the basement, they were greeted with ocean-blue walls and the first whiff of fresh air they had since they left the barrier behind. They knew they were on the right path, and Sweetie was blocking it.

Hearing them approach, she paused. "You want to go 'home,' don't you? Well, ahead of us lies the end of the ruins. An entrance to the rest of the underground."

She sighed, turning away from the two girls. "I'm going to destroy it." Something was whispered under her breath, something the girls could not make out. An apology? A goodbye?

Ellie's eyes widened. "No, you can't!"

"Please, be a good girl, and go play upstairs." She began to move again, her pace faster than before. No dust was kicked up, showing the basement must be traversed often.

It only took a few seconds for them to catch up with her again, thinking the same worried thoughts and not needing to speak or come to a compromise. And once again, Sweetie paused to speak to them. "Every human that comes to me leaves, and they all meet the same fate. I have watched it too many times. They come, and they leave, and they die. I don't know how much more of it I can take. You foolish children… if you leave here…"

Her voice grew choked up. "If you leave the ruins, the king, King Phil, he will take your souls."

Elizabeth stepped back. "You mean he'll kill us?"

She nodded. "Exactly. Can't you understand I am only protecting you? Now… go to your room."

For a moment, Elizabeth considered following her order. She wanted to leave, she wanted to see her own family and house again, but if she had to be trapped down here, she would rather be trapped alive than trapped as a corpse. And maybe Ellie did too, but the glances of fear they exchanged each other confirmed they had to keep trying.

Sweetie turned a corner, revealing the final stretch of the basement, which was a large door, the largest they had seen yet, the kind you would expect to seen on a barn with the most detailed crest carved and painted on in what must have taken days, if not weeks. The closer they approached, the colder the air got, with both girls growing goosebumps.

The crane's voice was on the verge of yelling. "Please, do not try to stop me!" Her face held no emotion as she approached the door, the two girls lagging only a couple feet behind.

Neither of them were sure what to do, or how to stop her. _Elizabeth was right. We really_ should _have thought up a plan._ But it was too late for that now. They both hoped they could at least think of something to do now.

Both of them opened their mouths to speak, but were cut off by a desperate whisper. "You want to leave me so badly… why did I expect any different? You're just like all the rest."

Ellie stepped up, trying to give her a nudge like she offered them before, but she leaned away. "Maybe… maybe we could prove ourselves! We can prove we are strong enough to survive!"

"Wait, what?" Elizabeth shook her head. "You mean by _fighting_ her?"

She did not even get an answer to her question, other than a small nod, a forced smile, and the lights in the room growing dim to reveal the red souls. "Not again…"

"Make the first move," she directed them. "And let's see if you really _can_ hold your own!"

Both Ellie and Elizabeth were frozen in surprise, neither of them expecting a battle so soon. Sweetie took this as them giving up their turn, launching her first stream of attacks towards them.

The white magic that every appliance seemed to have formed into a two-dimensional claw, the kind found at least five times in every arcade. Without one, it hardly deserved the title of 'arcade' at all. The claw grabbed for their souls and their heads with speed none of their adversaries had possessed before. The girls jumped out of the way just in time, their souls moving with them to safety.

"I bet being bigger and tougher than all the other appliances makes her harder to defeat!" Elizabeth pushed her bangs out of her eyes just in time to allow Ellie to grab her shovel, and whack Sweetie with it.

A health bar appeared above her, but only a few measly points were drained, and the plastic did no damage at all against her metal surface. In fact, it was the shovel that got it the worst, with at least two inches of the left end being dented upon repair.

Sweetie continued to stare into their eyes, hoping to intimidate them enough to turn back. She let another attack loose, which grabbed onto Elizabeth's soul for a moment draining some of her health bar, but Ellie pushed her out of the way.

"What do we do now?" Ellie asked, knowing they couldn't do anything with the shovel, and any one-on-one confrontation with a giant machine would result in nothing but bloody fists and broken bones.

"I know!" Elizabeth's eyes lit up, the perfect opportunity for a bulb to start glowing above her head. "She never said we had to defeat her! We just have to prove ourselves, and I bet we can do that by just outlasting her!"

"You're right!" Ellie stood tall, looking the crane in the eyes, waiting for whatever came next.

Sweetie said nothing, instead launching her third attack, this one a wave of crumpled papers (or as Ellie would call them, origami snowballs) and small pebbles wrapping around the girls, trying to hit their souls in a frenzied whirlwind. Ellie ducked as one was sent flying towards her head, losing her focus and a few health points.

"Keep your head in the game!" Elizabeth called out. She nodded.

They could see Sweetie's resolve breaking, with her tense brow loosening and claw beginning to lower. The two girls once again refused to fight back, and she made her next attack, once again sending the hologram crane after them.

This time it grabbed onto Elizabeth's soul, draining her health bar past halfway. An ache went through her, starting with her chest and moving into her arms and fingers, but she knew that if she gave up now, she would never see the surface again. The thought of losing the sunlight and being trapped down here in a place where they were the only humans sent a chill through her spine, colder than the breeze rushing through the doors.

She tried to swat the crane away, but her hand went through it. It seemed as though it could only grab their souls, and not their bodies.

"Attack me, or run back to the house!" yelled Sweetie, bracing herself for another impact, but both girls shook their head in defiance. With a sigh, another wave of snowballs flew past them, and they had to dodge through holes in the pattern to avoid being hit. "What are you even proving by doing this?"

"That we can last out there!" Elizabeth's words were answered by nothing but another snowball hit, her health below a quarter. She grimaced as the wave of pain went through her body.

"Please, stop this! Stop looking at me like I'm the villain!" She shook her head, her scarf coming loose. The holographic crane appeared above Ellie's head, making a sharp dip for her soul which she avoided with no time to spare. Both of them expected it to rush after Elizabeth as well, having always gone for the both of them, but it disappeared before it had a chance.

It dawned on Ellie that she was refusing to attack Elizabeth any more, seeing how much she had been hurt already. Watching her friend tense up with tears welling in her eyes made her heart sink, but she knew it might be an advantage. If both of them were injured, the crane's resolve might break all together.

Sweetie said nothing as she pelted Ellie with a storm of tiny raindrops, and as opposed to moving her soul out of the way, she made sure to catch them, the tiny pinpricks lowering her HP to Elizabeth's level. She looked confused for a moment, before letting out a low sigh.

The next few attacks were sent with little resolve, nothing but a few snowballs flying with trajectories that would not even graze past the girls. They bounced off the walls exploding in a brilliant light show.

As one of the million sparks created from the impacts hit her face, Sweetie yelled out "enough!" The regular lights in the room returned, and the girls breathed sighs of relief. Ellie laughed, the only way to calm her racing nerves as she awaited whatever Sweetie had to say.

"Please, I know you really want to go home, but I'm begging you to go back upstairs now!" A twinkling tear slid down her metal cheek.

"But we have families that we miss, Ma'am," Ellie protested.

"I can take good care of you! You won't have to be alone!" She began to smile. "I don't have much, that's true, but I swear we could have a good life…"

Ellie and Elizabeth looked to each other, desperate for an answer. "Why is this so hard?" retorted Sweetie in their silence. "I am only trying to help."

"We know that, but-"

"Go upstairs, please." Another tear dropped to the navy concrete floor, along with her scarf.

All of them were silent, no one wanting the battle to continue. Those few seconds were tense, filled with nothing but the cold air chilling their skin and the sound of a motor running in the distance. Then, Sweetie began to laugh. A sorrowful chuckle, but a laugh all the same. "Heh, this is so pointless. I've never been able to save any of them, so why could I now?"

Not sure what to say, Ellie picked up her scarf, and offered it to her, but she shook her head. "You two would be miserable stuck in here. I'm certain the ruins would be too small for a human. Keeping you here against your will… what kind of caretaker… what kind of mother would I be?"

"Mother?"

Sweetie drove up besides them. "My fears and my loneliness… I need to put them aside. If you want to leave the ruins, I should not stop you. All I ask is that you try to stay safe, and stay together. Through what little time I got to spend with you, I can tell you are best friends, and I can't stand the thought of you alone."

 _I can't believe that actually worked._ Elizabeth wrapped her arms around Sweetie, not even flinching when up against her cold metal, with Ellie following suit. "And please… as rude as this is, please don't come back. I really hope you can understand."

They both nodded. "Thank you for everything, Ma'am," Ellie choked out, trying not to cry herself.

"And take my scarf!" she added as she pulled away, the concrete underneath crackling. "It's pretty cold outside of here."

Elizabeth chuckled. "We can tell."

While anxious to see what lied beyond the ruins, Ellie did not want to leave until Sweetie felt better. "Hey, why did the lamp always get good grades in school?"

Sweetie blinked in confusion. "What?"

She grinned. "Just because he was always 'bright!' Get it?"

Sweetie's laugh was small at first, but she began to chuckle enough for it to echo off the walls. "Goodbye Ellie, goodbye Elizabeth," she smiled, turning away. "And good luck out there." Once again, she drove off without another word, but this time, they at least knew why.

Once she was out of sight, they pushed the door open, requiring both of their efforts for it to move. They were faced with a long hallway, a sight that no longer surprised them in the slightest. "I can tell this is going to be a great adventure." Ellie stepped forward into the cold.

Elizabeth nodded. "We're going to be telling our grandkids about this."

They walked in unison as the paint in the hall got lighter and lighter, and they reached the other side, with nothing but a brick arch they had to duck under to exit.

The final room in the ruins was cramped and small, with nothing but a spotlight aimed at a patch of dying grass, and a familiar facing glaring up at them.

Didi.

The girls back away, against the wall and as far from Did as they could get. "That was hilarious! I'm so glad you two decided to, you know, drop by?" There was no laugh from either of them. "For pun-lovers, you two are a real tough audience. Anyway, I bet you feel _real_ clever right now, don't you?"

"What do you want?" Elizabeth's voice was icier than the room around them.

She took a step towards them, which considering her size, was only an inch or so, but enough to send their blood racing. Their health was already quite low, and they knew Sweetie would not be rushing to their aid this time. "I wanted to remind you the rules of this place. It's still _Kill, or BE Killed._ You might be able to play by your own rules in the ruins, but it's different-"

Ellie groaned. "It's dangerous, we know! We already heard all of this from Sweetie!"

Didi rolled her eyes. "Of _course_ you had to spare her pathetic little life this time. But I know people like you. Humans… you'll kill everything in sight and then make sure you didn't miss anything."

"We're not like that," Ellie protested, getting ready to give the radio a sharp kick against the wall if she approached any closer. "I don't know who you've met, but we don't mean any harm."

"Sure you don't," she grimaced. "That's what they all say just to make themselves feel better. Why should I see you as any different? And why should you be exempt from the rules?"

"We're not going to kill anyone, period," hissed Elizabeth. "Not even an over-glorified music box like you."

" _That's_ the best insult you could think of?" She laughed. "Someday soon, you're going to meet somebody who isn't so caught up with outdated ideas like 'right' or 'wrong,' and what will you do then? Will you fight back? Will you finally get the message?"

She did not wait for a response. "Or will your life end at their hands? I know that soon enough you will tire of trying." The radio grinned. "It would do us all a favor if you would just give up your puny souls and let _me_ run this show again. I am the heir of this world, and in the end, I will make sure I can claim my throne."

Didi saw the worried looks on their faces which only increased her joy. "No no, I don't want to kill the stupid king. He'll be taking care of that for himself one of these days. What I want is going to a _lot_ more fun."

She did not stop laughing as she left the spotlight, ducking underneath a hole in the wall to access her own small pathways that allowed her to pop up in places no one else would expect. Being that tiny had a couple benefits she refused to admit.

As she left, the girls were glad to be alone at last. "We better keep an eye out for her."

 **MASTERTALE**

 **END OF ACT ONE**


	8. wattson

**Chapter Eight: wattson.**

Outside of the ruins was even colder than the girls expected, Ellie clinging to the scarf she was given. They had decided that Ellie should be the one to keep it, as Elizabeth had her thick jean overalls but Ellie only had her skirt. But even that was not enough, and she began to fear they might be getting frostnip any second now.

The ground appeared to be covered in snow at first glance, but a closer examination would prove it was nothing but finely chopped up ice, like one might find at a snowcone stand. The thought would have gotten both their mouths watering if it wasn't for the fear of hypothermia.

They walked along the gray path, paved out in a dense plastic. Similar 'trees' stuck up from the ground, their leaves nothing but paper or cloth. It was a stark contrast from the plethora of colorful flowers growing within the ruins. They both longed for the heat of Sweetie's cabin and the small fire burning within it, but they knew there was no use in heading back now, so they continued plodding along, hoping for a warm place to stay.

"Maybe this wasn't the best idea," Ellie muttered as they stepped over a particularly large chunk of ice blocking the road. "I can't feel my toes anymore."

Elizabeth shook her head against the chilling winds. "We have to keep going! We should get as far from that crazed radio as possible until we are back to full health. And even then I'd prefer to avoid her."

With a sigh, Ellie nodded in agreement. "Do you think those biscuits are still warm? That might-"

Before she had a chance to finish her sentence, Ellie was cut off by a large crack. It was as if someone had stepped on a pile of rocks, but sharper. They both turned, but nobody was there.

The only change was the large ice block, now sitting in pieces along the path.

Elizabeth was starting to sprint away. "Let's get going, Ellie." She followed her example.

They hurried along the plastic path, smaller chunks of 'snow' crunching under their sneakers. AS they moved, a noise could be heard approaching behind them, like the repeated clash of metal against the ground. They refused to turn and see who it was. They were more focused on getting away.

Their hearts began to beat faster, their pace increasing to a run to get away. Off in the distance, they saw a wooden oak gate, and it became their mission to reach it and close off whoever was coming for them. It approached, but now soon enough, as the noise grew closer, and closer, and closer… the door to the gate was locked.

Elizabeth rammed into it, hoping to break the bars and get through, but it did not even budge. All that happened was the forming of a few future bruises.

Ellie, clenching the shovel in her cold palms, finally gathered the courage to face whoever was following them, a stinging bead of sweat falling from her long bangs.

Even after all this time, she was expecting a human, someone large and ready to beat her to a pulp for whatever she did. She had to turn her head down to see the lamp.

This lamp lacked a shade, but even so, it came past Ellie's knee. Its neck was a single thin bronze cylinder ending in a cone base. On its socket sat two pairs of dark chocolate eyes above a switch that almost looked like a nose when looked at the right way. His bulb was the classic spherical kind, the glass a dull sepia tone.

He held out his plug, giving the girls a playful wink. "You humans never know how to greet a new friend, do you?" Elizabeth turned around, jumping at the sight, before joining Ellie in cathartic laughter.

As Ellie took the plug, she felt the familiar sting of static electricity. She let out a small squeak in surprise. "Hehe, everybody always falls for that one, but it never a bore."

"Remind me not to mess with _you,_ " she giggled, enjoying a good prank herself even if it was at her own expense. "I don't want to have another bad time."

He nodded. "Look, you two… you _are_ human, right?" They both nodded. "Wow, I never thought I'd see one in my life!"

"And we never thought we would run into talking appliances," added Elizabeth.

The lamp grinned. "It's a small world, isn't it? Anyway, I'm Wattson. You can call me… Wattson."

"I'm Ellie," cheered the raven-haired girl, "and this is my best friend, Elizabeth." Elizabeth gave a small wave. "Would you happen to know where we could get some warmer clothes?"

"Yeah, but not in your size… geez, that was a bit uncalled for." He began to blush. "I meant that I don't think we have any human clothes, but maybe I could get the local tailor to working something out."

Ellie let out a relieved sigh. "Thank you so much, sir."

Wattson shrugged. "It's not a problem. I'm actually supposed to be keeping watch for stray humans right now, but I'd much rather help you."

He unlocked the gate door, gesturing for the girls to follow him down the rest of the path. "Now, you probably need to know about Potter… he's my best friend and an avid human hunter." He saw the worried looks on their faces and added: "but he's just about as dangerous as a shadow puppet, so you don't have much to strife over."

They soon arrived at what appeared to be a small hut, with the shaved snow collecting on the pine shutters and ceiling. There was only enough room for one person, but it looked as though it provided a good view of the area while keeping the occupant out of the snow.

Wattson gasped. "I think I see him coming! Hide for a moment, and I'll work things out, okay?"

They began to question just how harmless this 'Potter' was, but did not have time to discuss, both darting for the hut. Ellie got inside first, closing the door and forcing Elizabeth to hide behind it. _I'll give you one of my biscuits later, buddy._ Still, it was not much warmer in there, and she had to duck under the desk to not be seen.

Elizabeth, however, got a good view of the scene that played out between the two friends. As if on cue, Potter, who turned out to be an orange coffee pot, entered the area by sliding down a tree branch and descended on a rope pulley tied to his handle. "How are things going with you, Potter?" asked Wattson.

He chuckled. "You know, just… hanging around!" His voice was deep but projected well through the artificial forest.

Wattson groaned. "That one was pretty forced, you know?"

"Well, why don't you make the puns, then?"

"At least mine would be a bit _brighter?"_ As he said this, he flickered his old-fashioned light. "Yeah, you're right."

Potter freed himself, landing on the snow cone ground. "Wattson, as much as I enjoy a good joke, there is no time for this! You need to keep working on your puzzles or we'll _never_ catch a human!"

Wattson rolled his eyes. "Come on, I _told_ you I'm still recovering from that last virus."

The coffee pot groaned, his single eye lowering in annoyance. "That is no excuse! Humans don't take sick days and neither should we! What are you even doing here if it isn't working on the puzzles or standing guard? Have you been talking to her again?"

He chuckled. " _Which_ her?"

"That's not important! I must be the one to catch the human!" He held out his shiny arms, made from forks drilled into his metal surface, as though he was about to take off and fly like Superman. His toothy grin was made of jagged ridges coming apart each time he spoke. "If I can bring a human to Loumine, she'll have to let me join the Royal Guard! And I'll get everything I've ever wanted! Fame, fortune, friends!"

"Come on, aren't I good enough?" Wattson gave him a nudge with his cord. "Besides, I know what might help you with that. Why don't you check around my hut? Perhaps a human is hiding in there. I left out some human bait in case they stopped by." With these words, both girls felt their blood run colder than the air outside.

To their delight, he only groaned. "Seriously? Why would a human hide in there? I think this is just another excuse for your boondoggling! Human bait? What is that even? A cheeseburger?"

He stammered. "I've gotten _plenty_ of work done! I think you need to-"

"Chill out?" Potter face-palmed. "Really?"

"I was going to say calm down, but that works too," Wattson shrugged.

"Yeah…" Potter began to sink down, arms hanging by his sides. "It's just, why does somebody as awesome as I have to go through all of this just for some recognition?"

Wattson gave him a quick hug. "Buddy, don't give yourself a short circuit, alright? I know you're going to find that human one day or another."

He nodded, returning the grasp. "I'm going to go check on my puzzles. I advise you do the same, and actually _work_ on them this time!"

"How much?" asked Wattson with a sly smile.

He grinned, his 'teeth' more obvious than ever. "Until it hertz."

Potter hopped down the path, chuckling over his joke the whole time.

A few seconds passed with the only sound in the area being the wind that flowed through the underground. "I think it's clear now," Wattson muttered.

Ellie was stiff from sitting in the same position for so long but forced her legs to stretch and meet up with her friend and new acquaintance once again. "Why were you trying to blow our cover like that?" she asked him.

He sighed. "I wanted to prove to you he wouldn't be a threat. I can tell you're still pretty worried."

Elizabeth decided to accept it as just one of the weird ways of these people. "Come on, let's get going before we freeze to death."

A few more steps down the trail and they saw that Wattson was not coming with them. "Actually, I think I better go with Potter. Keep him out of trouble and all that, but I swear if you just follow this path, it won't take too long. There are a couple puzzles along the way, but-"

Ellie sighed. "Don't worry, we're pretty good at puzzles."

"Great." But just as Wattson was going to take off after Potter, he stopped. "He's been kind of in the dumps lately. None of us has seen a human before, and it's one of his biggest aspirations. Seeing you two might brighten his mood a bit, you know?"

"Well…" Elizabeth trailed off. "On one condition. You promise we won't get hurt."

"And once this is all over, you take us somewhere warm!" Ellie shouted, shivering.

The bronze lamp nodded. "I can do that. Thank you _so_ much, guys."

Wattson left, but for some reason he went back the way he came, humming a tune to himself. They decided not to question it. Maybe all smaller appliances knew of Didi's shortcuts, or he had his own methods of transportation. Either way, all they cared about at the moment was healing themselves and getting out of the cold before a storm started, because they dreaded what that might look like in a world of appliances and fake snow.

Around the bend from Wattson's hut, they found a twisting road and another golden save point. "Yes!" exclaimed Ellie, rushing to it and placing her whole hand on the glistening star. It's energy rushed through her, and she could feel all her wounds mending once again.

Elizabeth joined her, feeling the sweet relief those strange points offered. For a moment, a warmness burned within them, calming their shivers. "How long do you think we've been down here?"

"Not too long," she murmured. "Probably only an hour or so."

The brunette kicked up a small pile of ice with her shoes, which were growing clammy with the moisture. "The surface… It feels like forever since we were back on the surface."

She smiled. "Well, there's only one way we can go now, and that's forward."

 **Potter and Wattson are two of the appliances shown in the 'It's a B Movie' song from** ** _The Brave Little Toaster_** **, with the names and personalities assigned to them by Lampi01 in their** ** _B Gone, Intruders!_** **fanfiction series. I highly recommend reading these stories, as they are hilarious and heartfelt all at the same time. Thanks for letting me use them, Lampi01!**


	9. Icy Road

**Chapter Nine: Icy Road**

As the girls started their journey once again, certain their legs would have been worn out by now if not for the the save points, they came across a small box. Constructed out of an unknown wood, the golden hinge on the front was unlocked and engraved with a single heart. In the cold air, it was freezing to the touch, but the girls opened it either way.

"I don't think we should be snooping," Ellie pointed out as her friend opened the box.

Elizabeth laughed. "Didn't you read the sign?"

Right next to the box was another wooden sign, words written on in messy, but still legible permanent marker. It read _This is a box. You may put items inside or take them out. Don't worry about leaving them behind, they'll show up later, I swear. - A Box Lover. PS, Please Reserve for Humans Only._

"That's racist," she groaned. "Or… alive-ist?"

Elizabeth shrugged. "I don't know. But this might be useful." She pulled the contents of the box out: a metal slingshot with a stretchy band just waiting to be shot at a larger enemy.

"Sweet!" Ellie took it, looking it over for any sign of who owned it. "Finders keepers!"

"Are you sure that's the best idea? There's probably some poor kid looking for that thing right now." She grabbed it back, clutching the freezing handle until it stung her flesh, deciding just to shove it into the backpack with the biscuits and the shovel. "Let's just hold onto it until we can find a lost and found or something."

Ellie sighed. "Fine, but I'm pretty sure we're the only humans here. Didn't Sweetie say they all got killed?"

She face-palmed, running her fingers through her bangs. "Please, don't remind me."

Another minute on the plastic path led them to where Potter and Wattson were standing. They both stood on either sides, and it appeared as though they were talking.

"How is Loumine doing? I heard you were talking to her recently." Potter gave his friend a sly Cheshire grin.

Wattson blushed. He seemed to notice the two girls, giving them a quick wave with his cord, but said nothing to them. "Our relationship… it's mutual, okay?"

Potter was about to say something in return, but before he could, he caught a glimpse of something unusual in the back of his eye. Turning to face them, he straightened up in surprise. The two appliances looked to each other, Potter in shock and Wattson now wearing the grin.

The coffee pot stumbled. "Sweet mother of forks, Wattson! I think that's a human!"

Wattson shrugged. "I think it's a couple of rocks, actually."

They all turned to see two gray rocks standing tall a few paces away from the girls. "Okay then, nevermind."

The lamp laughed, giving his friend a pat on the back. "Look _beside_ the rocks."

He turned towards them once again, his single eye widening in surprise. For a moment, it looked as though he was about to weep tears of joy. "Oh my shining sockets of above, is that a human after all these years?" Wattson only nodded. "Do you know what this means? Your girlfriend will… she'll let me… I'll be so… _popular!_ "

He was beginning to blush once more. "I already told you, we aren't dating! Besides, we can't get stuck up on this. You have a human to catch!"

A shiver ran through Elizabeth's spine, but she knew she would just have to trust Wattson. Despite the cold, she was warming up to these funny little appliances, and Ellie had already crossed that line. She was chuckling with them as if it was all just a cute story to read. "Don't we have a say in this?" she asked, not expecting an answer.

Potter turned to face them, caught off guard for a moment. "Oh, right! Thanks for reminding me!" He coughed, clearing his throat from whatever coffee or tea residue was left. "Humans! I cannot let you pass through Refridgera Forest. I, the Wonderful Potter, shall stop you in your tracks! I will then capture you so you can be delivered to the capital and meet with King Phil. He told us he wanted to speak with any humans who stopped by, and I must follow his orders."

The two girls froze in their tracks. "But what about-" Wattson gestured for them to keep their mouths shut, and gave a reassuring wink.

Potter bowed to the two girls, holding out his fork hand as though he was about to shake it, but pulled back before they had a chance to accept. "But before I can capture you, I must engage you in our people's tradition of puzzles and tricks! Be prepared for the game of a shelf life!"

He hopped off, once again laughing as if he was an evil villain who just caught the hero in his trap. "Good thing that went well, right?" Wattson smiled to them as they walked over. "Don't worry about any of this. I've got your back."

Ellie and Elizabeth crouched down to meet him at eye-level. "If he catches us after all, what will King Phil… do to us?" Elizabeth squeezed her hands tight in her pockets.

Wattson was silent for a moment, his cord on his 'chin' like an old wizard stroking his beard as he thought. "I suppose he will want to talk to you, but between the two of us, he couldn't capture a human to save his life. He's a little… eccentric, you know?"

Ellie nodded, giving a friendly but sarcastic sigh. "Yeah, I understand. Still, I hope playing along with his puzzles can make his day. I'd hate to see the cute little guy sad."

"Little?" He chuckled. "We're not little. You humans are just too big."

Elizabeth shrugged. "I don't know. I mean, so far, we've seen appliances of all different sizes. One was even bigger than us!"

He squinted, beginning to take off in the direction of his best friend. "Really? What was she?"

"A crane!" Ellie tried her best to indicate Sweetie's size, waving her arms in the air. "She was big, and pink, and really cool! She gave us this amazing cake. Do you want some?"

Elizabeth nudged her in the stomach. "Hey, that's my slice!"

"Fine, just trying to be polite." She rolled her eyes.

Wattson shook his head. "Don't worry about it. But… what was this crane like? As much as I hate to snoop, perhaps I know her around. Did you come from the ruins?"

"Yes," Elizabeth nodded. "To be honest, we didn't talk to her that much, but she seemed to love corny jokes and was just a big…"

Ellie grinned. "Sweetheart?"

The two girls shared their mutual moment of punniness before stopping to observe another station set up on the side of the road. Standing in a clearing in the plastic trees and their flurry of fakes leaves, it was not a neat, tight construction like the one before. The way the roof caved in reminded them of a lemonade stand set up by a kid certain they did not need their parents' help.

A white-board sign was hung on the front with a message in the language of appliances. "This is Potter's 'station.' Now, he isn't an official sentry just yet, but he loves to pretend. He's trying to prove himself worthy to Loumine."

Ellie was about to ask just who this 'Loumine' was, but decided she did not want to but into Wattson's personal life after he helped them. Instead, she asked "what does it say?"

"Attention all who stop by! This sentry station belongs to none other than the Wonderful Potter!" Wattson yelled out in his best impression of the coffee pot. Switching back to his regular voice, he whispered. "Please don't tell him I did that."

The two continued down the plastic path for a few more steps, but blocking their path was another appliance. He was another lamp, but not a lean metallic one like Wattson, but a chubby, acrylic, orchid purple lamp with a large mouth and perfect teeth. Held high above him was a white shade, the whole thing almost as tall as the rest of his body.

"Hey, a human decided to stop by!" He spoke with an accent neither of the girls recognized, slurring every word. "How are you all doing above here?"

Ellie shrugged, no longer expecting the appliances to attack. They were all just too cute in her eyes! "Pretty good, I suppose. And you?"

Wattson stepped between them. "Plugsy, leave the girls alone."

His brow lowered. "And why should I? I bet their souls would sell for a pretty penny around here." With these words, the two souls popped up into existence once again.

"Oh no," Ellie whispered, hiding behind her friend.

Elizabeth was about to pull the slingshot out, but Wattson tapped her on the knee and shook his head. "Trust me, Plugsy's bark is much worse than his bite. He couldn't keep a room lit up in broad daylight. Ignore him and he'll leave you alone."

He hurried the girls along, pushing them past Plugsy. As they walked, Ellie felt something bounce off her leg, but it was hardly anything. Barely even a pinprick. Even the health bar showed only two points were missing.

"Sorry about that," Wattson sighed. "Some of the appliances in this area aren't always as polite as they should be. You have to understand, we don't have the best history with humans."

"That's horrible," Elizabeth muttered. "What happened?"

"How about I tell you later when we are warm and have the time?" Both girls agreed that would be the best idea.

They walked in silence for a few moments, before Wattson said he had to leave to meet with Potter once again, but he would still be seeing them soon. "I doubt anyone in here could seriously harm you. Just follow the road, and you'll be safe." Both were starting to doubt how accurate his statements were, but did not see any other path they could take, both literally and figuratively, so they decided it would be best to play along at the moment.

"Lizzy?" Ellie turned to her. "Is it normal to lose feeling in your fingers?"

"Stick them in your pockets," she laughed. "You'll be fine."

The next sign posted had a translation stapled below in English, something both girls were greatly thankful for without Wattson around. All that it said was _Absolutely No Moving!_ "What does it mean?"

Elizabeth shrugged. "I don't know, but you've got to admire that caligraphy. Somebody put an awful lot of time into that."

"Yeah," her friend replied. "Maybe there's a printer or art tablet around here who specializes in that."

"Do you think we're even allowed to walk through?" She looked ahead to wear a third station was, constructed with the same quality as Wattson's but at a smaller scale. Neither of them would be able to fit.

Ellie thought for a moment. "Well, I'm sure that Wattson would have warned us about this. Maybe it's just a bad translation?"

They both nodded in agreement, and reluctant, they walked past the station. Or at least, they tried to, as after only a single step, a head peaked out from the window.

A small Roomba was facing them, turning and twisting on her axis as she spoke. "A human? Moving here? By my little station? This is the best day of my life!" She squeaked and squealed as though they were famous celebrities. Then again, news of their arrival was probably hitting the appliance tabloids by now if they even _had_ magazines at all.

"Are you okay?" Ellie asked, but her question was ignored.

"It's hard for me to see things when they aren't moving." At this point, the Roomba was talking to herself. Please keep moving, human! I need to make sure I can capture you!"

Without another word, the Roomba popped out of a door on the station's front panel. "I will prove myself as the ULTIMATE SUCKMASTER!" And once again, the two souls flew out, ready for whatever beating they were about to ensue.

The girls had to wait a few seconds before the battle could even begin, as the little Roomba struggled to generate her attack, but once she did, they were surprised to see her single dust bunny was not white.

It was a bright shade of cyan.

"Don't move an inch!" she screamed, hurling it towards them. Even if her attack took a while to 'load,' it moved with great speed. Even if she _wanted_ to, Ellie did not have time to dodge. She braced herself for the wave of pain, but nothing came. It flew through her soul as if it was not even there.

Elizabeth turned to her. "How did you do that?"

"I don't know!" she said.

Suckmaster tensed up. "Wow, you are smart! Not moving! So clever!" She seemed excited more than anything for a challenging battle. But neither of the girls were interested. Elizabeth leaned down, hoping to just pick her up and move her out of the way.

As her hand grabbed the roomba's edge, she nudged her, bating for a pet like a little puppy. "Wow, a massage! Not-moving humans are the best!" Soon enough, both girls were petting her and watching her squeak in excitement.

"Wow, we have got to fall down holes like this more often," Ellie giggled, but Elizabeth was oddly silent. Her eyes stared off into the distance, but the raven-haired girl knew what she was thinking about. She probably missed her own dog. "Don't worry, you'll see Silver again, okay? That's why we left in the first place."

Elizabeth wiped a single tear from her eye. "Thanks, Ellie. And you'll see your mom!"

"Too bad Dad won't be there." They continued down their walk, leaving the excitable Suckmaster behind. "I wonder what even happened to him."

"You never know," said Elizabeth, patting her on the back. "Maybe he fell down here too."

Before they knew it, they arrived at a bank of ice, where Wattson was waiting for them. "I told you I wouldn't let you get hurt," he winked.

Ellie clasped her hands together, forcing herself to speak. "Wattson, how many humans have fallen down here before?"

"Last time I checked, the official total was eight," he said. "With you two here, it'll go up to ten. But still, there could be more in hiding."

"Were any of them an Elmo St. Peters?" she asked. Elizabeth took a step back. She did not expect Ellie to take her comment so seriously.

Wattson shook his head. "Not that I've heard of. Why? Were you close?"

She sniffed. "He was- _is_ my father."

"Wow… I'm sorry for you," the lamp shuffled in his spot the best he could. "I'm going to be honest with you, appliances don't really _have_ parents, but…" He wiped his knob nose with his cord. "Great, now you're getting _me_ worked up!"

"It's fine," she said, smiling. "I don't even remember him. I just thought I would ask and see."

The two girls began to explore on their own again, skating across the patch of ice and only falling down a couple time. The pain did not change their health bars. "I guess only attacks can _really_ hurt us here?" asked Elizabeth.

The main road continued to the East, but they decided they would check out the small dip to the north. As cold as they were, this was the chance of a lifetime, and they wanted to explore every nook and cranny.

Sitting in the clearing between the trees sat an air conditioner. Ellie could not help but laugh at how his vents looked as though he had a mustache and eyebrows.

"What are you laughing at?" he groaned in a tenor voice.

"Nothing!" she spat out, afraid of another battle.

The air conditioner sighed, rolling his eyes. "I bet a couple of low watts like you only came up this way to mock me, huh?"

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Isn't it obvious! I'm stuck here!" He tapped on the ground with his black cord. "Even if they do take your souls, I'm not getting out of here."

Elizabeth was confused. "But everybody else here is able to walk on their own…"

The air conditioner chuckled. "Real peachy for them, then, huh?"

Ellie opened up her the backpack, taking out the styrofoam box of cheddar biscuits. "I don't think we're strong enough to carry you around, but would this help?" She handed him one of the savory delights.

He looked it over with his brow lowered in suspicion. "I promise it's not poisoned," she added. Elizabeth nodded in turn.

One of his blue eyes watered up as he bit into it. "What is it with you guys anyway? Nobody ever stops by here, they all think they're better than me just cause they can move around!"

"That's horrible!" Ellie tried to give him a hug, but his cold metal made the task impossible without fear of getting stuck to him like a tongue to a street lamp. "Is there anything else we can do to help?"

He thought for a moment. "Here, take this little sucker." He handed her a single bolt. "I got it replaced but never had the heart to trash it. Why don't you take it with you on your little promenade?"

"So at least a small bit of you can see the world?"

He winked. "Bingo, kid."

They left Air Conditioner on good terms and a promise to keep the bolt with them on their journey. It was the least they could do, after all.

"I'm just glad he didn't attack us like everybody else so far," Elizabeth whispered.

A billboard posted by the patch of ice depicted small cottages lined up by fake trees with happy appliances walking about. _Welcome to Refridgera! Just keep going East!_ was captioned underneath the appliance writing. "Why do they write in a different language if they're all speaking in English?"

Elizabeth shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe it's just a different alphabet?"

She nodded. "That'd make sense, actually."

"Or maybe this is just easier for appliances to read," the brunette added. "Either way, next time we see Wattson, we should ask him for a translation.

It was not long before they spotted the bronze lamp and his best friend once again, both standing by a soft pile of fake snow. Not the shaved ice littered everywhere else, but fluffy, white bunches of flakes. The only difference from real snow was that it was dry as a bone when Ellie reached down to touch it.

"What have you been doing?" Potter asked Wattson. "We need to capture the humans, and all you've done is take them for a walk!"

He shrugged. "Hey, if they're tired, they'll be easier to catch. I just want to help you."

Potter looked him in the eye, looking for a retort to throw back, but none came up. "That… actually, makes sense. But still! We must have our puzzles prepared for when they arrive!"

"Potter, don't look now, but they're already here." He pointed to the two girls, and they waved back with a sheepish smile.

His eyes grew wide. "Wow, you're here already? Humans are faster than I thought! But that does not mean I will give up yet."

He walked up to the edge of the snow pile. "This is the first of our dangerous, devious puzzles. I am sure you will find it quite… shocking!" He began to laugh, Ellie as well. Elizabeth and Wattson just sighed and shook their heads. "You see, this patch of snow is no regular place you can just hang around. This is the home of my great electric maze!"

"An… _electric_ maze? You mean it will electrocute us?" A shiver ran through her. "I hate to break it to you, but humans aren't as resilient to that sort of thing."

He nodded, grinning. "I am well aware. If you take one wrong step, this maze will give you the zap of a lifetime!"

Wattson looked over it. "Buddy, I think you forgot to turn it on."

He jumped. "I knew I had forgotten something. Thank you, Wattson!" As the path around the snow was too thin to just walk past, he had to go through it, and thus, with each step he marked a safe path. Both girls covered their mouths to avoid laughing with the coffee top.

When he returned, he looked up to them once again. "Cross only if you dare, humans!" He had no idea he had just solved his own puzzle for them.

Elizabeth shrugged, smiling herself. "If you say so." The two walked through the twists and turns without so much as a static charge hitting them. Once they were safe on the other side, Potter looked up at them in defeat.

"How… how did you do that?" He gasped. "You humans are not only fast but sneaky! Do not fear, however, I will make sure you are still challenged by the rest of our puzzles." He turned to his friend. "Hey, didn't you design the next one?"

Wattson nodded. "You're going to have a bad time ahead of you, kids."

Once Potter had left to prepare the rest of their challenges, Wattson hopped over once again. "Potter seems like he's having a lot of fun. Thanks for putting up with this."

Ellie leaned down to face him. "Actually, I'm having fun as well! I just wish it wasn't so cold."

He wrapped his cord around his neck, almost like he was crossing invisible arms. "I don't know why it's always so freezing in here. It never really bothered us, as we don't have skin, but..."

"Well, the name of the place is Refridgera, so I just assumed it was a giant refrigerator the whole time," Elizabeth chuckled. "Like a walk-in freezer the size of a forest."

He nodded. "Isn't that a thought. Anyway, I heard you needed a translation guide?" He handed them a paper with the characters appliances used to write. "Originally, most appliances didn't know how to read, and those who did had to struggle for years to learn the ancient language, but King Phil decided to change this. He invented characters to use that were easy to write with cords and even easier to read. It's all phonetic syllables, so you should be just fine."

"Wow, that's cool!" Ellie remarked. "So appliance is kind of a con-lang?"

"If you consider a different way of writing English its own language, then yes."

As Wattson left to prepare his own puzzle, the girls ran into a vendor cart, like the kinds they found at fairs and carnivals. Standing by it was a mini-fridge with a red metallic sheen and snowflake engravings. "Ah, customers!" she exclaimed. "Welcome to Blizz's Bubble and Go! I sell everybody's favorite beverages. Would you be interested in anything?"

Ellie shook her. "Sorry ma'am, but we don't have any money."

She laughed. "That's fine, that's fine! I'm happy to barter. Do you have any poetry, or perhaps some autographs on cord?"

"We just got here," Elizabeth said.

"Roses are red, violets are blue," Ellie giggled. "I am confused and have no idea what to do."

The mini-fridge grinned. "That's the spirit. Take anything you want. We have Dr. Shuffle, Forest Dew, Sohcah-Cola, all ice cold!"

"Do you have anything that's a bit warmer?"

She looked them in the eye. "Why would you want anything warmer? This is the perfect weather for a cold drink."

They decided to leave Blizz with a thanks, but no thanks.


	10. Kugelsong

**Chapter Ten: Kugelsong**

Following the plastic path Ellie and Elizabeth ran into more appliances, though thankfully, none of these were poised to take their soul or pummel them into the hard, freezing ground. A curve in the road brought them to a scenic pond frozen over with permanent frost. An eggshell-white electric saw was carving her way through the ice to draw figure eights and other swirling shapes, while a nearby plasma ball played a form of putt-putt by nudging a snowball across the ice.

"Weird," Ellie whispered, not wanting to draw attention to the both of them. "I thought that being an appliance would make everything difficult, but they seem to be having so much fun!"

Elizabeth shrugged in response. "Look, I have no idea how anything works around here." The two appliances turned to face the passing humans, their eyes and jaws widening. "No, not again!" She pushed her friend along, desperate to avoid a battle.

By the time they left the vicinity of the lake, the two had already gone back to playing. "Whew, that was a close one," she sighed, wiping the cold sweat from her bangs.

Ellie frowned. "Come on. They might have been friendly. Maybe they just wanted to play!"

The brunette thought this over for a moment but continued to walk. "As much as I'd love to go ice skating, I would prefer not getting hypothermia."

"It's not _that_ cold," the other girl protested, but she still followed her friend. She knew Elizabeth was right; they could come back and play later.

Once more Potter and Wattson were waiting for them. Potter had a big grin on his face, while Wattson leaned up against a fake tree, eyes closed. "Wake up! The humans are here!" he yelled, the fingers on his fork hands tented like an evil villain.

Wattson hopped up from his rest and back onto the main path. Both stood in front of a single piece of paper, laminated to protect it from the wet ice, and with how things in this world worked, to give some bored laminator something to do.

Potter rocked back and forth on his raven black base, beginning yet another monologue. "Prepare yourself for a puzzle made not by me, even though mine _are_ quite exquisite, but my friend, Wattson! Perhaps his won't be so easy!"

Wattson smiled and winked, pointing down to the slip of paper, throwing a dry-erase marker to them. "Trust me, this one's a toughie."

Ellie picked it up, wiping off the moisture on the side of her plaid lilac shirt. They were expecting some sort of secret code they needed to remember to get passed a locked door, or maybe even a map to the town. They were not expecting the crossword from the _Refridgera Digest's_ morning issue. A couple latin characters had already been filled in for them.

Right beside the actual game were the clues, but they were written in the appliance language. It became apparent to them that Wattson's 'puzzle' would require a bit of translating. _I bet he wants to make sure we can translate road signs on our own._

"Would you mind if we did this later?" Ellie asked. Elizabeth nodded.

"No, of course-"

"Sure thing," Wattson nodded. "Just when you're done, would you mind giving it back to me? The first person to finish the day's crossword gets a prize."

Elizabeth rolled her eyes, chuckling. "So _that's_ why you want it. Sure thing."

Potter groaned. "You could have at _least_ used the day's word search. That's a _lot_ harder than the crossword."

Wattson's brow raised. "Really? Isn't the _Digest's_ word search in the kiddie section? Even a low-watt could solve those."

He was flustered, starting a couple of sentences and cutting them out. Finally, he blurted out "well, which would you humans have preferred?"

"Word search," answered Elizabeth without any hesitation.

"Wow, you humans are quite intelligent," he grinned, turning to Wattson. "I told you, buddy."

Ellie shook her head. "No no no, the crossword is definitely the best." Her mind wandered to countless breakfast slamming down cereal and milk while her mother poured all her energy into the day's issue, leaving a couple blank but always getting more than Ellie could.

Potter stammered once again. "Well… you're just saying that because you _look_ like one!" He hopped off, preparing for the next set of challenges.

"Thanks for the test, but I think we'll be fine," Elizabeth said, while Ellie looked over her checkered shirt.

Wattson nodded. "Really, I need to thank _you_ again. I know playing along with this must be boring, but he's grinning and jumping again already. Besides, I think we're getting closer to a rest stop you'll enjoy. The tailor does walk-ins, but you still better be polite."

"Tailor?" Both their eyes lit up.

"Yes. Now, I'm sure you know what to do at this point. Be seeing you!" With a wave, he rushed up ahead of them, darting into the faux forest.

A small cliff, barely any taller than the two of them, provided shelter for a table cut from ash wood, with two white mugs of tea laid out for the both of them. Nearby, a note from Potter read _Humans! Please enjoy this chamomile and mint tea I prepared for you as the next in my series of puzzles. Which is which? That's the puzzle! You'll be too distracted figuring it out that you won't make much progress! (But seriously though, please drink it. It will keep you warm and healthy. We can't be bringing King Phil a sick human, can we?) - Wah Hah Hah, Potter_

"At least he cares about us," Elizabeth muttered. Ellie was already going to chug down a mug of the tea. Or at least, she would have, if the two mugs were not frozen to the table.

"Aww, that's a bummer." Her shoulders lowered. "I really wanted that tea."

Elizabeth gave her a pat on the back. "Hey, it would have gotten cold by now anyway."

A microwave was sitting nearby, but before they had a chance to use it, they realized he was one of the living and did not want to wake a grumpy appliance from his sleep. Still, looking behind him revealed another save point, one welcomed by both girls for a moment of warmth. "Too bad we can't take _this_ with us," she sighed.

The microwave yawned. "You'll run into more." Both girls jumped as he began to wake up, opening his eyes and speaking in a monotone voice. They're all over the place. We've tried to use them as outlets, but nothing ever happens."

Ellie nodded. "Yeah, we heard about that. Still, would you mind heating up this tea for us?"

"What do you think I am?" he hissed. "A microwave?"

"Umm… yes, actually," she answered.

He paused for a moment. "Yeah, good point. But still, it's not like there's an outlet around here I can just plug myself into." He waved his cord in their direction. "Besides, I've kind of been saving that tea for myself."

"Okay, we're sorry!" Elizabeth called out to the microwave, already walking down the path again. "Thanks for the history lesson!"

Their walk was uneventful for a few minutes until the road stopped. The edges were clean-cut, showing the break was intentional. Both girls felt their hearts jump in their chests a little. "Wattson didn't warn us about this!"

A sign was posted by the end, and they hoped it would give them a hint as to where to go next, but after five chilly minutes of translation, all they could work out was _Beware of Roomba._

"Hey, at least it didn't say _Beware of crusher_ or _Beware of Tesla coil,_ right?" Ellie consoled her friend, even if she too was growing a bit worried. "If this is another Roomba, it shouldn't be too hard. We just stay still like last time!"

Elizabeth shrugged, turning away to observe the snowy flat laid out in front of them. "How do you know they'll have the same attacks?"

"Well, all of the fans back in the ruins had similar patterns. So did all those cute little speakers!"

"Fine," she smiled. "How about we just figure out where Wattson wants to go next? It seems we can go either east or south."

Ellie thought for a moment. "I'd say we head east. The rest of the path has been eastward so far." Elizabeth agreed with their logic, and the two began to weave around the trees to see what the eastern section held.

To their dismay, the path was a dead end terminated by another cliff. There was nothing but trees to look at, aside from a switch peeking out from under the snow that needed to be pulled.

Ellie grabbed tight onto the metal surface, it biting into her skin, but she still managed to pull the switch onto the other side, and they heard a click off in the distance. She was half expecting a giant sphere to pop out of the cliff and chase after them like in the old movies she watched with her mother, but even once she stepped away, nothing else happened.

At least, until they decided to turn back when they heard revving behind them.

Without warning, the souls popped out from the void they always came from. A second Roomba bounced off Elizabeth's feet, this one wielding a single arrow duct-taped to his side. "I've spent years catching dust bunnies. They all laughed at me," he sighed. "They all told me _Suckuel, those things are nothing but a waste of your time!_ But little did they know that was the _perfect_ preparation for-"

Before he had a chance to finish his sentence, Ellie reached down to pet the little Roomba, remembering the experience from their previous adversary. The little vacuum did not even resist, nudging her for more pets. "Yes! Yes! Yes!"

He aimed a couple attacks at them, another round of holographic dust bunnies, but these did not even come close to grazing their soul. With every second, his sensors began to glow a bit brighter.

"Well, I guess we should have taken the southern path," she laughed after a minute of good petting, leaving the little guy to run off and play, having forgotten his previous quest.

The southern path, to the sheer joy of the girls, continued on the path once again. _Sorry for the interruption,_ read another sign. _Construction shall be finished soon._

Holes in the ground by the new path seemed so familiar, and the girls were hit with a wave of a nostalgia when they remembered it matched the marks left by the spikes when they descended in the ruins. "I guess _that's_ what the switch was for."

The path continued once more, and the girls were thankful to be on solid ground again and let their soggy sneakers dry, but before they had a chance to take five steps, two more Roomba adversaries drove out to meet them.

"Why is it so hard just to have five minutes of uninterrupted walking time?" Elizabeth stomped her foot, cracking a couple large shards of ice open. The Roombas circled around them.

"Whatever it is, it doesn't _seem_ familiar, Suckyer," said one of them, turning to his friend.

"Come on Suckbastian, it's _obviously_ some sort of animatronic, but I suppose I'll check…" Suckyer rolled up to Elizabeth's leg giving it a quick nudge. "Actually, it seems too squishy to be any appliance _I_ know…"

Elizabeth, remembering how Ellie managed to calm the previous adversary, leaned down to pet him, but recoiled as soon as she made contact, hitting her with a nipping dust bunny attack. "Do you have any ideas?" she asked.

Ellie observed them, finger running through her ponytail. "Well, the Roombas all seem to like petting, so if we calm these guys down, we should be able to do that and get out of here with our heads after all."

"Yes, but how?" Elizabeth tried to pet Suckbastian in hopes he would cease, but he too sent an attack into her leg. The health bar was drained a quarter of the way. Watching the flickering lights where their eyes would be, it dawned on her. "None of the Roombas have eyes!"

"But these ones can still see us," said the other girl. "They probably have cameras or something instead. I mean, Didi didn't have a mouth and she could still speak."

"I wish she would have just shut up," Elizabeth groaned. "But that's the point! They _don't_ have eyes. They have _sensors._ And just as Didi's voice didn't sound quite 'natural,' I doubt these Roombas can see that well either."

"So, they're like animals, relying on other senses?" Ellie gasped. "That's it! If we can disguise ourselves, they might trust us!"

"What are you talking about, villain?" Suckyer yelled. "Do you bite your cord at us?"

"No, of course not!" She held up her hands. "We don't have cords… because we are Roombas too!"

"I find that hard to believe," he spit. "You don't sound like a Roomba, and you don't _smell_ like a Roomba either."

"I'm so glad we don't need to _taste_ like Roombas," Elizabeth whispered.

Ellie nodded. "Okay, okay, but if that's the case, why don't you attack us some more?" Elizabeth shot her a look of _what are you doing?_ Ellie assured her she had a plan.

Both Roombas aimed for their souls, but before they had a chance to reach the glowing hearts, Ellie grabbed their dust bunny bullets and rubbed them over her legs before they had a chance to dissipate, leeching on her HP until it was only two-thirds of the way full. "There. I assume we Roombas smell like dust, don't we?"

They approached her, rotating around for a few seconds filled with nothing but the sound of rumbles and heavy heartbeats. "She's right. She _is_ a Roomba!"

"A certainly _weird_ Roomba, but Roomba all the same," Suckbastian stated. "I apologize for this inconvenience. We are supposed to be catching humans, and here we thought you _were_ one for a minute."

"I understand," she nodded. "And I apologize for interrupting you, but does this make it up?" She scratched both of their casings at the same time with each hand, and both little Roombas began to twitch in excitement.

"Wow, best model ever!" he exclaimed.

Suckyer nodded. "I had no idea we _could_ pet each other!"

The two girls walked off, restraining their giggles.

…

The girls managed to continue their stroll for a few good minutes in peace, not being stopped by any more puzzles. They were treated to a great view of the forest from the edge of the snowy cliff, seeing the path they had been on only fifteen minutes earlier. "From up here, you can hardly tell the trees are fake."

"Pretty, aren't they?" They both jumped in surprise, finding Wattson waving ahead of them. Then, his happy smile dropped. "You got hurt out there? Do you happen to have any food on you?"

"We have a slice of pie and some biscuits," Ellie shrugged.

"We have _my_ pie and some biscuits," corrected Elizabeth. "Are you hungry?"

"No, not at all!" He shook his bulb head. "You've lost HP. You need to eat something. You know, I'll get you something at the tailor's. It's just around the bend."

Ellie gasped. "Really? Well, what are we waiting for, then? Let's get going!"

Soon enough, they were standing at the door of a log cabin, made from real logs! Both girls could already smell something being baked inside. "All this for a _tailor_?"

"Yes," he answered. "And an exclusive club. You need to know a guy who knows a guy to access _everything_ in here."

"I guess we'll just stick to the first two," Elizabeth chuckled, pushing the door open. Their goose bumps faded away as they entered the warm room, stretching out their fingers as they no longer needed to be clamped to their shirts to keep from freezing. They were greeted with the intense smell of warm apple cider and the crinkle of burning wood.

Two lime green vacuums conjoined by their tube sat by the fire eating a pie, while a fifth Roomba drank from a saucer filled with cider. They seemed to be discussing various methods of suction and lint flavors. Meanwhile, a blender and an electric whisk served up drinks at a bar low enough for a toddler to reach easily if it wasn't blocked off by velvet ropes.

"If it isn't Wattson," yelled the mixer in a thick French accent. "I thought you were sick with the flu like usual."

He blushed. "I got better, okay?" Then he turned to the girls. "Just keep walking."

"Look, a bunch of humans decided to show up to the Cutting Edge club," sneered a rotary telephone cast in plastic the color of a creamsicle fresh from the fridge. "What are you going to do? Start another war?"

A red toaster oven scoffed at them. "Please! I doubt they'll do anything but moan and groan about how horrible everything is around here." Her southern accent raised in pitch. "Oh my, look at me, I'm a human! It so horrible I've fallen down here, unlike the rest of the _appliances._ They'll be just fine stuck in a hole in the ground! _I'm_ the one who needs to get out of here!"

All of the appliances in the room chuckled with her. Both girls held their heads low as Wattson led them up the creaking stairs.

The top floor was a lot calmer, with the only occupants being a pink sewing machine with two faces working on an embroidered scarf too small for any but the smallest babies, and an old 90s computer reading the _Refridgera Digest_. "Hello, old friends!" Wattson chuckled nervously. They didn't respond in any way but staring up at him. "I was wondering if you could help these two humans out." Both girls waved. "It's pretty cold out there."

The sewing machine blinked, which showed off the thick mauve eye shadow the right head wore. The one above the needle looked them over. "It'll take us hours to make something that'll fit them."

The other side laughed. "Yeah, and even then it'll look gaudy. What are _these_ meat sacks even _doing_ here?"

Ellie looked to the ground and its taupe carpet. "Look, even a couple of arm warmers would be better than nothing."

The computer, bearing the name tag _Mr. Tandy,_ sighed. "Lacey, I think we still have some clothes from the King's kids."

"Good point," nodded the left head. "At least we could clear our closets out." They hopped over to one of two doors, using a low knob to open it and reveal two matching outfits, differing only in color. The girls pulled them out, revealing what appeared to be robes. Not the kind one would find in a spa, but thick fantasy robes, with the crest plastered on and white long sleeved flannel shirts and pants underneath. One was the same navy blue color they saw on Sweetie's scarf, while the other was a brown burgundy.

"Blue is the traditional color," droned Mr. Tandy, "but the Queen insisted her little girl looked better in warm tones."

Giving the appliances a big 'thank you!' Ellie headed for the other door, assuming it was a changing room, but the sewing machine stopped her.

"Don't go in there!" yelled the left head. "That's Kugel's room!"

"Kugel?" she echoed.

The right head sighed. "Do you humans know _anything?_ "

"Come on Lacey," said the first one. "Even we don't know much about Kugelblitz."

Mr. Tandy nodded. "If you see them, don't try to talk. They're an... interesting fellow."

"Yeah, none of us are even sure what type of appliance they are."

The two slipped their new robes on over their old clothes, quickly warming up to a cozy temperature. Already they felt ready to face the rest of the path. Ellie took the blue one, closest to her favorite purple shirt, leaving Elizabeth with the brown robe, but she did not mind. Like the previous owner, warm tones worked better for her.

After bringing them each a fresh quesadilla, Wattson took them out a back route so they would not have to walk through the Cutting Edge club again, and even though the cold winds still bit at their faces, the rest of their bodies were warm.

The quesadilla did not taste too good, but it was alright, and both girls looked up to see their health bars refilling. "Wow, does that always happen?"

He nodded. "Yes. Why else do you think appliances would have food? We don't need to eat, remember?"

Before either of them had a chance to respond, they were cut off by a familiar yelling. "Humans! I have prepared your final puzzle!"

Potter stood in front of a wooden bridge, wide enough for the both of them but still not something they would like to cross. He himself looked a bit queasy from the height. "Behold!" he announced. "If you can get across this, then nothing but Loumine herself will be able to defeat you. With a press of a button, traps will be set. Planks will fall! The grumpy old grandma down the street will be woken up! And trust me, waking a hibernating oven is the _least_ fun way to spend an afternoon."

Ellie took a step back, sweat dripping from her hair. "I really don't want to do this," she whimpered, looking down at the drop below, and the trees appearing so lively and serene from up above, powdered in the snow she would not have been able to tell if it was real or not.

Wattson did not even react. "Where's the button?"

Potter glared at him for a moment. "What do you-"

"-Seriously? _This_ was your final puzzle?"

He stammered. "It... it was a mind puzzle! I was going to trick them into not going any further!" His eyes lowered. "And you ruined it!"

Ellie breathed a sigh of relief. "Don't worry, the bridge itself is enough to stop me."

The little coffee pot jumped up to her. "Are you afraid of heights too?"

"Too?"

He nodded. "That bridge has always terrified me. If my puzzle just _has_ to be spoiled, could you at least carry me across?"

She agreed, hoping a favor would earn her his respect, and he would cease the puzzle bombardment. Despite her racing heart, she stepped onto the bridge, which was a lot steadier than she expected. It did not sway, but she still ran across, only stopping to breath once she was on the other side, and Elizabeth had made it safe as well carrying Wattson.

Potter grinned. "Yes! Now that I have returned home, I can prepare my best attack of all!" He walked off, giggling to himself, leaving Ellie to wonder just how far the rabbit hole she was willing to explore.

...

 **Thank you so much for reading, everyone! So, I know parts of this chapter didn't take place in the game and some puzzles were skipped, but I wanted this to be more than just a novelization of Undertale with different names and to keep an already long chapter shorter, so please spare me a few deviations from the original plot.**


	11. Refridgera Town

**Chapter Eleven: Refridgera Town**

The city was a lot smaller than the girls expected. Mostly because almost all the buildings were all only a foot taller than them. "Welcome to Refridgera, our home sweet home," Wattson grinned.

"Are you sure we will fit?" Elizabeth asked. "I kind of feel like a giant walking around in here."

Ellie chuckled. "Or Godzilla! Roar!" Her loud voice scared off a tiny speaker. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!"

Behind smaller trees stood an array of cute, cozy cabins, while the main street held an inn and general store, a restaurant, and a library, along with a couple of 'larger' houses. The only building that seemed to be a comfortable human size was the inn they stood by, which must have been like a mansion to the native inhabitants. The brick walls made way for closed glass windows, giving a view at warm fires burning inside.

"You might want to book a night at the Inn before they close," added Wattson. It was only then they realized the cave was beginning to grow dark as if a fake sun were slowly dimming. "Don't worry, I've got you covered, just stay here for a moment."

The little bronze lamp hopped away, the window light flickering on his surface. He stopped only once he had reached a raised platform, landing on top and disappearing into thin air. "Wattson!" Ellie shrieked, reaching out for their newfound friend.

"Don't worry," grinned an antique pewter candlestick telephone as she passed by, pushing a tiny walker with her. Her voice dated her even more than her appearance. "Those are simply the teleporters. Wattson's a good kid. He'll be back any second now."

"Whew!" Ellie sighed. "Thank you so much, Ma'am!"

"You are welcome, dears." She gave them both a quick bow of the head before continuing to the transporters herself.

The raven-haired girl had a wide smile. "If I were an appliance, I'd want to be one like that!"

As soon as the kind lady was gone, Wattson appeared again.

He was wearing a flannel bubble gum pink scarf with a pocket on either end, a yellow heart embroidered on with the level of skill that required years. Elizabeth recognized the craft from watching her own mother pour over the sewing machine for hours. They both liked to build things, just in different ways.

The thought of her mother made Elizabeth even more determined to reach the surface.

Wattson reached into the pocket, pulling out two cards. "These are preloaded debit cards I was saving for a rainy day. I suppose a snowy day is close enough. I think they each have about 400 gold and-"

Elizabeth shook her head. "$800 dollars? We can't take that from you!"

He sighed. "I know it's human tradition to refuse gifts, even when you _do_ need them, but please accept this for me, alright? The peace of mind knowing you two are alright is worth more than the money."

She thought for a moment before they both gave him a "thank you."

He led them to the Inn, where Elizabeth had to duck to get under the door. Once inside, the ceiling was high enough for them, but only just. The decor of the hotel seemed to be modeled after a casino, with crimson carpets laced with golden swirls and dim, large, buttercup yellow fluorescent lights dangling above. The walls were painted a deep shade of purple more fitting for a royal gown.

A mural of rats engaged in a game of Blackjack while eating cheese and listening to the jazzy house band was painted behind the counter. Also behind the counter was the receptionist, a pearl-colored printer from an older model sitting on a stool crafted to look like a spool of yarn.

Her eyes grew wide as soon as she saw them, but she managed to choke out "Welcome to The Den, dears!" Her voice held an unrestrained drawl. "I suppose you all will be wanting a room?"

Wattson held out his cord for a shake, which she reciprocated. "Would you happen to have a room big enough for a couple of humans, Agatha?"

She blinked in surprise a couple of times. "Well, of course, I do! I try to welcome _everyone_ here, big or small. I just never thought I'd have to use it!"

Wattson handed over a bag full of coins, which she counted, before handing them each a room card, which they slipped into the pockets of their flannel robes. "Your room is 201, right upstairs. Now, chances are I'll be closing up shop soon, but those cards unlock the back door if you need to get in or out, okay?"

They nodded. "Yes, ma'am!" said Ellie.

The printer gave them both a shake. "I'd like to apologize for my rude introduction. We just… don't see humans around these parts very often. The last one who came by here was years ago!"

Elizabeth shrugged. "Thank you, but considering you didn't try to take our souls as soon as you saw us, it really could be worse."

"Honestly, I don't really care about crossing the barrier," said the printer as she hopped off of her stool to begin closing down shop. "I've got friends and a business to run down here! Speaking of friends, if you ever need Auntie Agatha, just knock on room 101, alright dears?"

Ellie grinned. "Sure thing. Thank you!"

Agatha left for her room, leaving the three of them standing there. "I guess you two can either turn in for the night or explore the town. Do you need me to help you with anything?"

"No, I think we have got this," assured Elizabeth. "Besides, I bet Potter is out looking for his friend right now. We would hate to keep you two apart."

He grinned. "Thanks for understanding. I'll see you in the morning by the egg pile, alright?"

"Alright!"

As he left, Ellie turned to her friend, whispering "what's the egg pile?"

"Your guess is as good as mine."

…

Refridgera was a rather cute town, looking like something straight out of an old-timey Christmas movie, right down to the sound of snow crunching under their feet and the smell of warm cookies floating with the breeze. Many appliances walked by them, heading home for the night.

Even though their nerves were still shaking a bit after everything that had happened, and their eyes were starting to grow heavy, both girls were eager to see what this city held.

Their first stop was the shop right next to The Den, connected by a single room. The metal wire shelves were laid out like a convenience store next to a gas station, carrying various snacks, candy bars, batteries, and extension cords. In the back hot dogs were being roasted on a rotating grill, with the look in his eyes indicating he just wanted to end his shift.

"Mmm, smells delicious," mumbled Ellie to herself.

The grill noticed them and waved them over. Already, he had a smile on his face and one that looked genuine. Perhaps he was just lonely before. "Hello, humans! I suppose you've come a long way to get here, huh? May I help you with anything?"

"Yes," answered Elizabeth. "Would you happen to have any special deals or something?"

He nodded. "Why yes, actually! In fact, I have something that might interest you." He ducked underneath the main counter, ruffling through the clutter underneath.

Ellie looked over a rack of sweets, holding packages of television-shaped gingerbread cookies. She grabbed a couple, ready to buy them whenever the grill returned with whatever he was looking for.

The smells in the store were making her hungry, with the sweet savory hot dogs, fresh pizza, and a fresh-baked cake. It was only then she remembered they never had dinner, and chances are, it was getting late.

The grill emerged, holding a pair of goggles, the kind that went over the nose as well as the eyes. The strap was pitch black, except for a bright orange stripe across. "I can't really sell this, as it wouldn't fit an appliance and even if it did, we're not exactly waterproof." His giggle was soft and sarcastic.

"We'll take it!" exclaimed Ellie.

Elizabeth held up her hand. "Wait, Ellie, he didn't even give a price first! And why do you want it in the first place?"

She shrugged. "We don't know what kind of atmosphere they have in here. Maybe further down the cave, there will be poison gas, and we've got to protect our eyes!"

"I'm pretty sure protecting our lungs will be a bit more important."

The grill sighed. "Look, you can take it for free. I need to stop collecting things either way. This place is a mess! Agatha is always telling me to clean up and get my act together. But you're the first tourists we've had in awhile! It's not like anybody new comes here!"

Elizabeth thought for a moment. "Speaking of that, what _is_ there to do around here?"

He tapped the counter. "Well… Toasty's Breakfast and Bakery has food, but it won't be open until morning, you could go read in the library… that's really about it. I guess you could sit back and watch the sentry and his best friend. They're _always_ a hoot!"

Ellie chuckled. "We know."

"Yeah, they just showed up one day, and the village has been a lot livelier ever since."

As Ellie bought cookies and a tv dinner of spaghetti and meatballs, Elizabeth continued to talk to the grill. "Hey, could you give us a briefing of the history around here?"

"Sure! I used to be a history professor before I wound up here." He groaned. " _Anyway,_ you know those ruins in the back of the forest?"

"The ones behind the huge door?"

"Exactly. A long time ago, our ancestors used to live there. Eventually, we migrated to the end of the cave. But some liked it here, so they set up a camp, and that became a homestead, and that became this cute village right here?"

Elizabeth nodded. "And what about the ruins?" she was curious to see if he knew. "What happened there?"

He chuckled. "They've been locked for ages! A couple of cracks in the wall allow the smallest of appliances to get in, but other than that, nobody gets through. Even if I _was_ small enough, chances are it would be awfully lonely and cold."

They figured that Sweetie had a reason for living there, and so did all of the fans and speakers, and even strange little Luz. It would be best not to reveal their secrets.

"I hope you like it here," he said as they were about to leave. "Honestly, it's a bit claustrophobic, but… I'm sure we will be free soon. I don't know how, but I'm sure that if you're down here… it can't be too long, right?"

They left him as he began to close down his shop as well.

…

In the middle of the town, an electric juicer shuffled through a pile of plastic pastel eggs, like something out of an egg hunt during Easter back on the surface. "Do you need any help, sir?" offered Ellie.

After the initial shock everyone seemed to have at seeing a human, he shook his clear, plastic head. "No, I'm fine."

"If you don't mind me asking, what are you looking for?"

"Why, you must be new. I should have known," he laughed. "The egg pile is a favorite tradition here in Refridgera. We leave eggs for all of our friends, and whenever they have a bad day, they can just look for ones with their name on it and find a gift or a nice note."

"Did _you_ have a bad day?" Elizabeth asked. "What happened?"

"I got upset because I couldn't find any eggs."

…

In the cream-colored library, a bottle warmer sat reading a fairy tale to her two kids as they bounced along the multi color carpet. A fire burned at the far end, blocked off by metal bars to any young, intrepid explorer or wayward piece of paper. A large table hosted a group of mini-fridges like Blizz, but all a different color from her burgundy chrome.

The librarian was a shiny laptop, and she was a lot less subtle than the rest of the Refridgera locals so far. "Holy circuits, humans!"

The fridges looked up at them in surprise, but with a sigh, they returned to their reading or writing only a second later. The mother began to pack up, pulling her children along by the cord.

"Look, we've had a long day." Ellie began to unzip the backpack and search for the slingshot, just in case the librarian decided to fight. "We don't want to hurt you."

"No, of course not!" her cord was held up in defense. "I doubt I could, even if I tried. Besides, with royal robes like those, I bet the king would come after me."

"Royal robes?" they both looked down to the crest on their front. "So _that's_ why everybody here hasn't been attacking us as soon as they've seen us."

"Yes, I am sure you two are kind, but… we haven't always had the best history with humans."

"We've figured," Elizabeth replied.

"But let's not dwell on that!" she cheered. "Why don't you find a book? I'm certain we have a few in human-ese, right?"

They browsed through the section, most of them appearing as gibberish unless they plowed through hundreds of translations, so they settled for the one English book she could find.

Opening up to a random page, they read _Unlike humans, who have natural processes to move their bodies that are almost always present when born, appliances can only come alive once a strong emotional connection is formed. This does have some benefits, however. Appliances can have powers humans do not, such as glowing white attacks, which are only possible when the soul is not weighed down by being stuffed into a brain._

"You know, that actually explains a lot," Elizabeth remarked, turning the page.

 _Compassion, hope, and charity. This is what many souls are made of. But then again, we can never be sure what a soul is, or if one truly exists at all aside from something to attack and attack with. Besides, humans have proven they do not need these things to stay alive._

"Umm…"

The girls decided it would be best to turn in for the night.

…

Room 201 was almost exactly how Elizabeth imagined it. A dark, but the warm and welcoming room just big enough for both of them, with a bathroom off to the side, one they assumed was the only bathroom in the whole building.

As they did not have any pajamas to change into, Elizabeth simply slipped into the left side of the bed. Ellie was too busy microwaving her spaghetti.

"Wow, I've had so much fun already! I hardly want to go to sleep." she sat by the lifeless microwave, watching the plastic plate spinning inside."

Elizabeth shuffled, curling up on the edge of the soft bed, with more give than a bed should be able to. It was like she was sinking into it. Then again, that made sense, as the appliances would need softer surfaces for their hard edges. "I know spaghetti is your favorite food, but we already have biscuits. We should save our money for when we really need it."

She sighed, laughing. "Come on, that cashier was so friendly to us, it would be rude not to buy _something._ Besides, who knows how long this journey will take? We'll need to start buying food eventually."

"Fine." Elizabeth rolled over onto her other side, trying to find a comfier angle. "But that just raises another worry. We don't know how long this cave is What if we're down here for years?"

Ellie's eyes grew wide. "That would be awesome! We could be like a real-life version of Odysseus! If Odysseus was a couple of kids, that is."

The other girl groaned, her eyes shut tight. "But what about our parents? Won't they miss us?"

She turned to the wall, staring blankly at the framed painting of a black-eyed Susan, as there was no window to look out of. "Well, that's easy for you to say. Your father never disappeared out of the blue and your mother doesn't spend every evening working at a duty-free shop selling overpriced water bottles to rich vacationers."

"I know, but-"

"Is a little adventure too much to ask?" Ellie sat on her side of the bed, waiting for the delicious meal to cool off. "We've never seen _anything_ like this before. I doubt anyone we know has! What's the point in turning back now when there is so much to see?"

Elizabeth rolled her eyes. "We could get killed?"

"They said these robes would protect us." she ran a single finger down the tight seam on her baggy left shoulder. "And not everyone wants to. What about Sweetie? What about Wattson?"

"And what about Didi? If Sweetie hadn't gotten there in time, we would have died before any of this even began." She wiped a tear from her eye. "I just want to be safe, Ellie."

Noticing this, Ellie decided it would be best to discuss such things in the morning. Right now, her friend needed her. She gave Elizabeth a pat on the back, then a long hold on the shoulder.

"I promise we will make it out of here alive, I promise."

...

Agatha is an OC belonging to Lampi01. Thank you for letting me use your characters!


	12. CircuitTrifle

**Chapter Twelve: CircuitTrifle**

Morning came as it always did in the underground, with the lamps suspended up above lighting the cave in a close approximation of the skies their ancestors had seen before, but never quite right. The 'sun' in Refridgera did not warm the citizens, it only made shimmers across their metallic surfaces and lit up open windows.

Despite this, the citizens still got up each day with smiles on their faces, hopping along the trails of the cities built through the years. It had been a long time since a human had to tread their roads, which were strangers to human footprints.

The two girls getting up early in the morning was still a strange sight, even for those who ran into them last night, as they cut through the cold fog, wrapped up in their royal robes from predecessors a lifetime ago.

Seeing Elizabeth's stress, Ellie decided that they needed to find a way out, with as little delay as possible, if not for her, but for her friend. But this did not change the fact that the entrance was in the Ruins, locked away to the rest of the world. "Besides, even if we _did_ get past those walls, it's not like we could just climb up to the entrance."

Elizabeth sighed. "Yeah, you're right." She took a bite of her biscuit, which, as much as they both would have loved going to Toasty's, they decided to have breakfast on the go to save time and money. It was already cold and had a texture not too different from the rocks Potter confused them for, but it was food, and it was filling.

Wattson told them that he did not have the time to follow them constantly, but if they just continued walking down the main road and got past Loumine, the rest of the journey would not be too long.

"And what do we do when we run into Loumine?"

Ellie thought for a moment, listening to the sounds of appliances waking up in the morning, their engines whirling after a long night's rest. "We could just hold out like we did with Sweetie. Everyone gets tired eventually, right?"

"I just hope she doesn't have any backup batteries."

The little town, all centered around the main road, began to thin out. As it did, the air grew warmer, though not nearly enough for their regular clothes again. It also grew foggier, or perhaps…

"Mist." Elizabeth said. "We're approaching water."

"Too bad we couldn't go swimming," her friend chuckled. "Maybe it'll start getting warm enough for a tropical island. That'd be nice."

Their banter was cut off by a loud voice yelling "HALT!" Even though they could not seem him through the fog and mist, they already knew it was Potter.

He hopped up close, into the view of the girls, the rare serious frown on his face. He was wrapped in a dark blue scarf, which appeared to have just been torn from a scrap of fabric. "Humans, I need to tell you about some… complicated feelings."

Ellie's feet shuffled. "Look, neither of us are therapists, especially not for appliances. You might want to ask Wattson. Chances are, he would be less _object_ ifying." She chuckled. "Get it?"

Elizabeth face-palmed. "I'm pretty sure _that_ was objectifying."

Potter shook his head. "No, I'm not talking about things like that! I mean feelings like the joy of finding someone so anxious to try my tea. Wattson told me you enjoyed it and drank all of it! And the excitement of meeting a fellow puzzle fan. Just the excitement of meeting a friend who thinks you're the coolest buddy this side of the surface."

He grinned once more. "That must be what you're feeling right now!"

The girls turned to each other, with a look of both confusion and _what on earth is he talking about._ Still, the little coffee pot continued with a sigh. "I can't imagine feeling that way. I have many friends! I'm never lonely! It's not like I only have one other person by my side throughout _my_ journeys!"

Ellie nodded. "Sure thing, buddy. Sure thing."

"The truth is, I pity you. But worry not!" He took another hop towards them, now almost at their feet. "I can be your-"

The frown returned. He shuffled back, holding his one eye in the palm of his fork hand. "No, this is all wrong! I can't be friends with a human when I need to capture them! Why make two friends when I could capture them and be the savior of the Underground? I will finally become what I have always wanted to be!"

"Lonely?" Ellie shook her head. "No, that was a bit much. I'm sorry. But still, if you want to be a popular member of the Royal Guard, wouldn't it be even _more_ impressive to befriend us instead of just killing us on the spot?"

"I'm not going to kill you!" he gasped. "I would never want to hurt you. I just want to _capture_ you. Besides, what good can a human do if their soul is gone?"

With those words, the hearts popped up in the air, refreshed from a good night's sleep, with extra HP as well. Still, Elizabeth was not worried. "If this battle is anything like his puzzles," she whispered, "we should be fine."

"Come on, he's just trying to do his job," Ellie replied. Potter did not hear him, as he was still cackling.

Raising his right hand in the air, three small coffee beans appeared, all as white as the snow and about the size of a bouncy ball. They were launched at the girls' feet, none of them actually hitting.

"We're not going to fight you," said Elizabeth as she stepped over the last one, watching it melt away. "We'd rather just sit down and have a cup of tea, or-"

"Did you say tea?" Ellie was already shaking.

Potter still refused their offers. "I'd love to, but I'm on duty! And if you won't make a move, I guess I'll have to use my _Special Blue Attack!_ "

This time, he manifested many more beans. At least twenty! Both girls curled up a bit. That was until they realized that all of them were blue.

He pelted them with his slurry of beans, all passing through with no damage or feeling. The whole attack went on for almost a minute, as he directed his beans to performer aerial flybys and even dance a quick ballet for his treasured guests.

Ellie was enjoying the show, and clapping along, until her legs went cold, an unnatural cold she had never felt before. It was not as if she had been hit by a gush of wind, or just climbed out of the lake by her house after a long swim, but as if warmth had never been there in the first place. And based on the look on Elizabeth's face, she knew she wasn't the only one.

She held up the bottom of her robe to reveal both of her legs had turned to a dark blue metal. Both segments were completely separate, connected only by wires and the spherical hinge that her knees had become.

Her feet looked more like platforms, and lifting her leg up to get a get a closer look (which was a lot harder than expected, as the metal was heavy), she saw a huge, industrial spring underneath each one.

"Oh my gosh," she mumbled, while Elizabeth was observing the changes. "What did you do to us?"

He smirked. "My blue attack!" Then, without warning, he threw a final bean at her, this one the same old white as before, and knocking off a small part of her health bar. "You're blue now. That's my attack." Their souls had _also_ turned a similar shade of navy blue.

She groaned. "Oh, you are _good_ " Elizabeth was frozen with fear, her still-human arms wrapped around her. Ellie reached out to give her a pat on the shoulder. "I'm sure that it'll be fine. We probably just need to finish up this battle, okay?" The other girl nodded silently.

Ellie took a step towards Potter. Or at least, she tried, but as soon as her foot hit the ground, she was catapult a meter into the air. "Woah, Woah!" She only just managed to land on her feet, her hair slapping against her cold cheeks.

Elizabeth turned to her. "Do you think I can…" with just the tiniest bit of pressure down, she too got a few seconds of air. "Wow, this is incredible! Like a trampoline, but better!"

"Hmm… I wonder what we should do today..." Potter trailed off as he sent his next attack. Instead of a couple of tiny beans, he sent a dozen large ones at their feet. Even these would have been easy to step over before, but now, they could hardly even bend their knees without jumping, and small steps would be impossible.

Ellie leaped high in the air, getting a view of the ravens in their nests on high-up branches, while Elizabeth stumbled over her large feet, falling to the ground and taking the brunt of the attack.

With a smaller leap, she managed to stand upright again, giving Ellie a high-five. After a few moments with no retaliation, Potter realized it was his turn again. "I know! We could have a tea party! Wattson could come too! Of course, he'll be late like always!" Bean Two: The Awakening was sent their way, and this time, both girls dodged out of the way, even though the beans they had to jump over were larger than Potter himself.

He seemed unfazed by the battles, as though he did this sort of thing often. He looked over his forks, as if he was admiring a manicure. "Don't make me use my special attack!"

This time, the beans flew towards their head, which they had to duck under. Again, this would not be so challenging, but these new legs did not know many tricks other than jumps and leaps. Elizabeth managed to duck successfully, but Ellie kneeled down a bit too far, and the force on her legs sent her flying and hitting her head against the beans.

"When did we wind up in a cartoon?" she groaned.

"Oh boy, I can almost _smell_ the popularity!" With the wave of his hand, his beans assaulted their feet once again. By now, they knew to jump, and this worked, until a large blue bean came for their head, which they both could not stay still for as they landed.

Their health bars were going down, but sleeping had given them some extra points, so nothing besides Ellie's hit to the head caused them much pain. But now, it had dipped into their regular limits, and they were beginning to feel a sting in everything except their appliance-like legs.

Potter pulled out a small bottle of Radio-Brand Cool-ogne from his scarf, dabbing it behind his eye. "Potter, the Royal Guard. Has a nice ring to it, doesn't it? Loumine will be so proud! And Wattson? Well, he probably won't change, but you can't please everyone, right?"

A ring of beans appeared in front of them, not too much different from something one might find at a circus show. Ellie knew what to do, and leaped through, scraping her elbow as she landed and losing a single health point. Still, this seemed enough for Potter to cease for a moment as he figured out his next attack.

"Then again, will anyone like me as much as you and Wattson? People like you are quite rare… besides, being your friend will be kind of hard once you're captured." This thought didn't phase him as he sent waves of beans, some they had to jump over, some they had to pause for. The girls managed to find a rhythm, and were beginning to gain control of their new jumping abilities.

Seeing Ellie's low health, Elizabeth held up her hands for a pause in the fight.

She was not expecting it when Potter actually agreed, and all of his bean attacks disappeared.

Ellie got the final biscuit from the bag and recovered her missing health, while Elizabeth caught her breath. "Are you ready to go again?" Potter asked after a minute's rest.

Ellie nodded. "Yeah, just please go easy on us. I don't think I've jumped this much since the PE teacher got a trampoline set from the local Salvation Army."

He sighed. "Actually, I was thinking it's just the right time for my _special_ attack!"

"Oh no," she muttered, pushing the empty box back into Elizabeth's bag until they found a trashcan.

At first, the 'special attack' seemed to be not much more than a combination of all his other attacks, thrown at them in rapid succession. Both were lulled into a false sense of security as they hopped and dodged, ducked and jumped, their souls moving with them each time. But then, Potter began cackling, raising up both hands and forming two walls of beans on each side.

The walls began to creep towards them, and with each second they could see less of the outside world, and more of the glowing white beans they were made of.

The girls huddled up together. The walls were even taller than Elizabeth, and there was no elbow room left. A third wall behind them formed. Being blocked of by Potter, there was no way out. With that many impacts all at once, there was no way they could survive.

"Wait, we can just jump over!" Elizabeth grabbed her friend and pulled her close for a hug, pushing off against the ground with all the force she could manage. The two shot up higher than the trees, free from gravity for a moment and the wind ruffling their hair.

From here, she could already see the road up ahead as the snow cleared, and it entered a darker area, with turquoise patches of grass and a misty waterfall that filled the area with steam. Little appliances scurried along their daily business, staying clear of the water.

In awe of the view, she let go of her friend for a moment, reaching up to feel the top of the cave. A bit of dirt got on her fingers as she brushed the roots and wires holding it together in the short moment they had before falling down again. Ellie just held tighter, her eyes clamped shut and desperate for something to hold on to. "Woah Woah Woah, get us down!"

They could not beat gravity forever, and soon they landed, thankfully once all the beans had dispersed. Ellie only got a chance to catch her breath after a couple of uncontrolled bounces. "I was _not_ expecting that today." Her eyes were the size of golf balls.

Potter too looked on in amazement. "That was _incredible!_ I had no idea humans could do that!"

"We can't," Elizabeth answered. "All of that came from your blue attack."

He nodded, thinking all of it over. "Well, even so, you are the only person who has not been defeated by my special attack. Well, besides Loumine. Honestly, I think it would be in my best interested to offer you mercy."

She smiled. "We are happy to accept." Bending down as best she could without triggering a jump, she shook his tiny hand. "But… could you please explain how you did all of this? We are just as amazed as you are!"

"Yeah! You have the coolest attacks!" Ellie tried to walk back to them, but of course, she was sent up a few feet before falling flat on her face. "Whatever you did, can you just undo it now, please?"

He gasped. "Oh right, I forgot about that!" With the wave of his hand, both girls felt their legs return to their normal, fleshy, un-bouncy state, and their souls returned to red before disappearing. Ellie breathed out a loud sigh of relief, but Potter's was one of defeat. "Why am I doing this? Loumine is going to be disappointed in me… she won't let me join the Royal Guard… and I won't make any new friends."

Ellie chuckled. "No way! You're a friend to us, and that makes two, right?"

As she said that, she could swear there were sparkles in his eyes. "Wow, two in one day! That's a new record! And to pay it back, I shall let you pass unharmed."

They both bid him a shower of hugs and "thank yous!" before he continued talking. "In fact, I'll even give you directions! Continue down this road until you reach the end of Home Range. Then, take the Subway to New Home, and you'll find King Phil's castle just past the Church of the Fourth Dimension. The barrier is somewhere in the castle."

"We've been told nothing can pass through it," Ellie sighed. "We're trying to find a crack in it, or another way out, or-"

"Nothing can pass _expect_ a powerful soul," he added. "And based on that battle, I _know_ you have it in you. And even if you don't, I'm sure the King will help you. He has soul power to spare! Now, he might _look_ creepy, but trust me, he's just a big softy!"

"Well, that's a relief," Elizabeth smiled. _Potter's reports are probably more accurate. Sweetie's been locked away for a long time, while he's out here and can get all the latest developments._

"Everybody loves King Phil! How can you _not_ love the guy who single-cordedly founded the Royal Guard? I'm sure that if you just say ' _Hello? Mr. Phil? Can I please go home?'_ he'll just take you there himself." Then, he hopped down from their arms, and began to head home. "Well, that's enough talking. Today's my break day, and I can't let it go to waste. Still, if you want to come over and hang out, feel free any time!"

And just like before, he ran off cackling.


	13. Befriending Fight!

**Chapter Thirteen: Befriending Fight!**

As much as the girls wanted to continue their journey and make good time, they decided to take one last detour in Refridgera Town, at the request of a lamp who had helped them so often, they felt it was their duty to make it up to him, and what he wanted was for them to visit his best friend.

The two girls arrived at a tall house, a smidge bigger than the others in the area but still rather small. It was constructed from logs the color of the coffee Ellie's mother would drink in vast quantities once the sugar and cream had been mixed in. A warm golden light glimmered in the windows, streaming through the dandelion curtains.

Snow topped the cabin's roof, struggling to stay on and not slip off the steep angle. In the attic's front window, the blinds were open, and they could see a single bed stand with a single candle and a single book on it, with no other furniture in sight, aside from a bronze lamp smiling down at them, greeting them with a quick wave before hopping to the side.

At their feet was a plastic welcome mat, and an excited coffee pot almost jumping for joy. "I'm so glad you could make it!" he cheered. "We never have guests. Please, come in for a cup of tea!"

With three knocks at the door, which was so low both girls would need to crawl through, it opened up with only a single creek against the shiny gray hardwood floor. They entered to find a living room and kitchen, both enclosed by the same carrot-orange wallpaper. Intricate yellow suns and their coronas covered the paper like spots on a dog. A matching fern couch leaned up against it, standing by a large antique radio and facing a more modern TV.

Still, the most notable piece was the spiral staircase that both ascended to the attic, and presumably, a basement down below. Ellie quivered with excitement for a second. She loved exploring basements! There was just something about the smells, the seclusion, and the way they looked so plain and yet so mysterious at the same time… it was enthralling.

Elizabeth had to put her hand on her friend's shoulder to get her to stop shaking with excitement. At first, Ellie was somewhat offended, ready to make sure she understood she can control herself, but a deep breath reminded her that it _would_ be awfully rude just to ask to go in someone's basement. Besides, who knew if it was even big enough for a human in the first place?

"Don't worry, we're the only living ones here," he soothed, already knowing their thoughts as the girls tensed up at the sight of a radio. At least, some of them. "Anyway, welcome to our house! Take your time, browse, make yourself at home!"

After that long battle, Ellie was already a bit tired, so she took a seat on the couch. An oak side table held a dusty old book, with a less dusty remote. With a single button press, the TV flickered on, showing what appeared to be an infomercial for cord warmers. "Wow, this is my favorite channel, Radio Star!"

"How many radios are there down here?" Elizabeth asked.

Ellie rolled her eyes. "That's racist. Or… appliance-ist?"

Potter did not see anything wrong with the conversation and still smiled his wide, jagged grin, drawing the curtains back and letting the 'morning' light shimmer on his metal surface. "Quite a lot! They're all really friendly too! One of my other good friends is a radio and she is always giving me good advice. She knows just what to do! Whenever I feel a bit down, she'll stop by, and offer me flowers."

"I guess they're not _all_ like Didi," she whispered.

He squinted. "Who's Didi?"

"Nobody," Ellie groaned. "Anyway, is this channel _just_ infomercials, or-"

"No, this is a bad episode!" He rushed to turn it off. "It gets a lot better at night!"

Elizabeth was more fixated on what appeared to be a tiny appliance-sized blue bandana, lying on the ground next to the TV. She picked it up to find a series of notes laid out, alternating between sloppy print and simple cursive, like something straight out of a children's practice book.

\- WATTSON! PICK UP YOUR BANDANA!

\- Okay.

\- DON'T JUST PICK IT UP AND DROP IT AGAIN!

\- Sure thing.

\- YOU MOVED IT THREE INCHES! YOUR GOING TO GET YOUR BANDANA DIRTY! IF I HAD ONE I'D KEEP IT CLEAN. TAKE IT TO YOUR ROOM!

\- Fine.

\- WHY DID YOU BRING IT BACK?

\- You never said I couldn't.

There were no more replies, and Potter, seeing her curiosity, began to blush. "I'm sorry about the mess. My foolish friend needs to learn to clean up after himself, especially with something as important as caring for his official Royal Guard Uniform. I can't give in, or else he'll rely on me for everything! Then again, not much would really change, but that's beside the point!"

She chuckled. "Actually, I think it's kind of cute. Ellie acts like that all the time, and-"

"Sure, _I'm_ the lazy one," she groaned with a smile. "I can't get you away from your desk have the time!"

Potter, eager to end any potential fight, lead them into the kitchen, a little nook in the main floor with an oven, a refrigerator, and several bags of tea strewn about the marble counter. "If you just get a couple of mugs from the cabinet and choose a favorite flavor, I'll get the tea cooking!"

Ellie was an avid fan of tea, whether it be chamomille, minty, or any flavor. Grabbing the first two mugs she found, she told him only "surprise us!" Meanwhile, he hopped over to the sink, where he filled his spout with water.

Coming back as it began to heat, he looked over the bags with an intense concentration, stroking at a non-existent chin. "Hmm… lavender tea is certainly fancy, but a bit too formal… lemon tea might give the wrong impression…" The girls were afraid to move at all, in fear of incurring the wrath of an angry tea god. Finally, he grabbed two bags, grinning for joy. "That's it! Blue raspberry! Everybody loves raspberry!"

" _Blue_ raspberry?" Elizabeth echoed. "Isn't that just a candy flavor?"

"No! It grows down here like wildfire or an ill-informed rumor." He chuckled. "We might be doomed to live out our lives in a clammy cave, but we will always have one thing the humans don't: colorful berries."

The brunette's feet shoveled. "We've been meaning to ask about that. Why did all of you get trapped down here?"

Ellie nodded. "And why does everyone want our souls so much?"

He sighed, now with a small, uncontrollable hiss from the bubbling water within him. "You can probably guess by now I'm not the best at sensitive issues. That's a question Wattson's better suited for."

"Good point. Thanks anyway, Potter." She reached out to shake his hand, but he darted away.

"Not while I'm heating!" he exclaimed. "I've heard you humans are pretty sensitive. One warm surface and you lose your functions for good!"

Ellie slouched. "I don't think we're _that_ weak…"

Before anyone else had a chance to comment, a loud squeal erupted in the room. Both girls covered their ears with speed that could rival a darting fly. Potter gasped. "Sorry, sorry! This will only take a moment!" He turned off his heat and stopped the noise, letting both startled kids relax as he poured the tea.

"Doesn't that hurt?" Elizabeth asked.

He looked on in confusion, placing the blue raspberry bags in with the precision lacked by even the best breakfast connoisseurs. "Doesn't _what_ hurt?"

She stumbled. "Well, pouring boiling water out of your nose. That sounds pretty uncomfortable to me?"

Ellie chuckled. "Yeah, remember that one knock-knock joke Abigail said in class that made me laugh so hard milk shot out of my nose! That was horrible!"

Potter didn't say anything for a moment, and she was beginning to feel a weight on her, the uneasiness that comes with any social slip. Then, he began to laugh once more, which they were beginning to realize was his reaction to most things out of the ordinary. "Well, does pumping blood hurt you?"

"No?"

"Well, it always seems like it would. The thought of a heart struggling for years and years, never able to take a break from the constant wear? That sounds pretty painful." He dipped his fork into one of the mugs, stirring the dark phthalo drink. "It's just a matter of perspective. What's strange to you is normal to me, and vice versa."

Ellie's eyes were wide. "That's… actually pretty deep."

"Deeper than these tea mugs!" He cheered, handing one to each of them. "Wattson bought them from a guy claiming they were for coffee. What a low-watt!"

Ellie's mug read _My Blender is an Honor's Student!_ in bright pink letters while Elizabeth's had a picture of a television wearing a red jacket and a fake beard surrounded by a bunch of presents. They were going to reach for honey, but with none in sight, they decided they would just have to suffer through one cup of unsweetened tea.

Except, it was already sweet, with the familiar taste of raspberry without any of the sting. "Wow, this is the best tea I've ever had!"

"If you want more, I have plenty in the fridge!" He then rolled his eyes. "Wattson loves the tea too, but I hate making it in front of him. He never stops with jokes about a short and stout little teapot."

She looked in out of sheer curiosity and found that one-half of the fridge was filled with nothing but Mason jars filled with various colors of tea. The other half was filled with nothing but a single half-eaten box of raisins.

Potter's eyes lit up. "Ooh, I know! Wattson once told me it is customary in human meetings to show you around the house. I do not think he would appreciate me bringing anyone into _his_ room, so I guess all that's left is mine."

"Okay," Elizabeth nodded, happy to go along with it as long as they could get out and continue their quest before anyone had to pay for a second night at the Den.

He hopped off, leading them to the staircase. "Wattson has the attic, so my room is down here."

"You _live_ in the basement?" Ellie was practically squealing at the thought. Her Mom would not listen to her pleas to move her room downstairs. _Something stupid about 'dust' or whatever._

"Yeah," he said as they traveled down. "I know it doesn't seem glamorous, and I _wanted_ the attic, but I let Wattson have it as the open air and light help with when he gets sick."

"No, I think it's cool," she commented. "I mean, not that he gets sick, but… actually, people have been mentioned about his sickness. Does he get ill a lot?"

The coffee pot sighed. "Yes. You would not _believe_ how often he catches viruses! That lamp has the immune system of an old computer. Actually, most old computers are healthier, but that's beside the point. You were lucky to catch him on one of his better days. He'll typically get sick at least twice a month."

"That sounds _horrible!_ " exclaimed Elizabeth, but with nothing they could really do, they decided to leave the discussion at that, as Potter opened the door to his bedroom.

Ellie was disappointed to find it was not the unfinished diamond in the rough she was expecting. With a vacuumed cream-colored carpet instead of concrete flooring and lemon wallpaper covering up unfinished paint, it was more of a regular room than a basement. Still, in the end, it was, and she was happy to have yet another to delight in.

Potter's 'bed' was a charging station surrounded by sheets and unicorn Pillow Pets, all of which were a bit worn but cuddly nonetheless. A coffee table was adorned with various drawings of various living appliances. On the other side of the room, he had an old-school computer displaying the home page of a social networking site neither of them had seen before. A small bookshelf held both textbooks and coloring books, with crayons strewn about the orchid purple rug in the center of the room.

"Wow, you're a pretty good artist!" Ellie exclaimed, looking over a detailed sketch of two lamps in pink and blue crayon. Neither of them appeared to be Wattson.

He shook his head. "Actually, my friend Sketch drew them for me. They're all my friends! I've been meaning to hang them up around here, but I can't find any tacks. Wattson doesn't want me hurting myself."

"What about that poster?" Elizabeth pointed to a poster of a red bakelite radio riding on an animatronic moose pinned up near the corner of the wall.

Potter began to jump for joy. " Loumine got the poster for me. That's the Radio from Radio Star! Isn't he the coolest?"

"You know, that _is_ pretty cool," Ellie remarked. "I've always wanted to ride a moose."

Elizabeth ran her finger over the cover of thick books on appliance pop culture, puzzle designing, and jokes that _totally_ would never annoy anyone. "You have great taste in books," she remarked absent-mindedly.

"Why thank you," he beamed. "My personal favorite is _Shadow Puppets for a Creative Mind._ Surely a classic!"

"Could you show us a couple?" Ellie asked.

He nodded. "But of course! Just flip the light switches next to the door."

Ellie turned to find two switches, one of which was on, and the other was off. She first turned the one on the left off, bathing the room in complete darkness. Nobody could see their nose, or their spout, in front of their face.

The second switch lit up a single spotlight, shining a crisp circle on the wall, and giving enough light that they could move about, but only just. "Yes! Let us begin the show! I have been practicing for so long… Honestly, I've never done this in front of a crowd before, but there's a first time for everything, right?"

"Certainly," Elizabeth chuckled.

Potter held up both of his fork hands, stretching and bending his fingers in silence for a few moments. Each one made a clear silhouette against the wall. "Step one of having the best and most magical shadow puppet performance is to make sure to stretch."

Both girls proceeded to open and close their palms a couple times, in case audience participation was called for. "And if I remember correctly, step two says I need to ask you your favorite animals for-"

"-Dogs!" Elizabeth shouted, jumping up in the air. Both friends' eyes grew wide for a second; it was not normal for _her_ to be the excitable one, but Potter was happy to play along.

"Perfect! Dogs are quite easy!" He raised up his fork hands away from his body, first using the tongs to form a typical dog head created through two palms resting together. The mouth opened and shut, Potter supplying the sounds of howling at a non-existent moon.

"And now, step three… you wow the audience!" His tongs bent and distorted until the dog head became a realistic wolf, chasing down a stray bunny. Neither of the girls knew how even as their eyes darted from the shadow to the fork and back again. How he managed it they decided not to question.

Ellie tried to replicate the stunt, but the only thing she could manage to create was a sloppy silhouette of Sweetie's origami snowballs. "Don't worry, it takes a lot of practice. You'll get there in a few years."

"How long have you been doing this?" Elizabeth asked as he made a realistic, smooth butterfly flap through the light.

He shrugged. "My whole shelf-life, I guess?"

"Wow," she exclaimed. "I'm not nearly as good, but I do know a few…" she extended her right hand, her fingers curved upwards, and put her left fist on top of the back of her hand to form a shadow snail. "Not as pretty as yours, but-"

He gasped. "Are you kidding! That's incredible! You already knew shadow puppetry before we met. That must mean our friendship was meant to be!" He was beginning to shake. "Your friendship power is overwhelming! I cannot be bested in this game when I have prepared for so long!"

"Wah hah hah!" he howled with laughter as he slammed a fist against the leg of his coffee table three times. This triggered another three spotlights to shine down, illuminating the whole of his back wall. "Don't think you have won yet, my friends! I, the Wonderful Potter, has never been dethroned as the King of Shadow Puppetry! In fact, as King, I have my own crown, that will _never_ be taken!"

A single black cord descended from a hole in the ceiling, grabbing his cord and pulling him up. Both girls began to run towards him before he held up his hands to assure them this was all part of the show. "Don't hang around waiting for me," he laughed, grabbing around for something in the boards of the ceiling.

Ellie tried bending her fingers to form something, even if it was nothing but a squirrel or a little kitten. Then, Potter began to descend, now wearing a thimble on his head and holding a plastic toothbrush with no signs of wear. "Behold, my Shadow Puppet Hat of Whimsy!"

He wore it with the pride of a real king and a real crown, with the toothbrush as his scepter. "And do not forget about my regal Truth-brush!"

Ellie smiled, a real genuine smile for how adorable he was, hoping Elizabeth wouldn't spoil the mood and tell him what the thimble was really for. "I love it! I wish they made hats like that for humans. I'd wear it all the time. Sure, I wouldn't look as good as you, but-"

"Such a genuine compliment! Your friendship is overwhelming, but I must stay strong, as I have tricks up my non-existent sleeves!" With a wave of his brush, he formed a rolling meadow, filled to the brim with rainbows and unicorns. "Your move, humans!"

Elizabeth held the palms of her hands just inches apart and curled her fingers in to make the mouth of an angry crocodile. "How about that, Mr. Shadow King?"

"Very good, but you do not understand the true power of my hat!" Within seconds, the scenery changed to match the crocodile, with shadow pirates fighting off shadow beasts. "You shall never defeat me, unless-"

Ellie took off his hat before he had a chance to finish, figuring it was the secret of his power. What she found underneath was something so scary, and so scarring…

It was another thimble.

This thimble had tape wrapped around it to cover up the holes, and within it was a single sip of tea. He smirked. "Oh my, you have found it! But you still have yet to taste the best tea in existence! Like a fine cheese, it was aged to perfection, before being brewed by me, the greatest leaf-water chef this side of the surface. Go ahead, take a sip."

She was worried for how long the tea could have been in there. _Can tea even spoil?_ After a few seconds of tense silence, she finally put it to her lips and drank the whole thing.

It tasted just like honey, except, it was not honey at all. It still had the refreshing flow of water. "You are so overjoyed you can hardly speak! This is incredible! You must really like my tea, and by extension, you must care for me!"

With fast fingers, he illustrated the three friends, embracing in a deep hug. "This is the best day of my life!" And soon enough, his puppets were not the only ones hugging.


	14. Toasty's Breakfast and Bakery

**Chapter Fourteen: Toasty's Breakfast and Bakery**

The girls had spent a lot longer at Wattson and Potter's house than expected, and it was almost eleven when they had emerged from the basement of shadow puppetry. Potter hurried along to check his human traps in case another friend stopped by, but the lamp wanted to talk.

"Would you like to go to Toasty's for lunch?" he asked. "It's on me."

Ellie paused. "Wait, isn't it a breakfast place?"

Wattson shrugged, sipping from a jar of blue raspberry tea. "True, but brunch is close enough, right?"

"Well, I suppose," Elizabeth sighed. "But then, we have _got_ to get going!"

…

The bakery looked more like a bar, with the focus of the dining room being a circular booth wrapped around the kitchen. Still, it was distinctly a friendly place, from the cobalt walls holding portraits of friendly appliances to the patrons all waving hello as they walked in.

At the far left table next to the bar sat all five of the Roombas they had fought earlier, soon returning to their game of canasta. At one of the booths on the right wall sat a megaphone reading through a pamphlet while a waffle iron facing him was fast asleep on a pile of uneaten brunch.

"HELLO WATTSON!" yelled the megaphone, before blushing and dialing his volume down. "I am sorry, it is so hard to control that sometimes," he said with a laugh.

Wattson smiled. "This is Loudmouth. You can see how he got his name. Or better yet, hear it."

Despite the ruckus, his friend was still dozing off on his plate of waffles. "This is Waffles," Loudmouth added. "He likes to sleep a lot."

Ellie snickered. "I can tell."

The megaphone was still for a second. "Are you really humans? We've heard rumors, and-"

"Yep, full humans," she replied.

He frowned. "You know it's very dangerous for your kind down here. Why did you even come in the first place?"

The raven-haired girl smirked. "You could say we wanted to take a long _trip._ "

After that little discussion, Wattson brought them over to the booth, sitting to the right of them and next to Ellie. On the other side of the booth sat a golden gooseneck lamp, chatting with the toaster chef behind it all.

"Look, new customers!" cheered the other lamp in a nasal but friendly voice. His light flickered in surprise for a moment.

The toaster hopped over to them, handing each a freshly-baked and buttery roll. "It's so nice to see some new faces around here." Using his handles, he handed each patron a menu. "You can take your time choosing; it isn't rush hour."

"But don't go all Blankey on us and take an hour to choose," sneered the other lamp. Then, with a sigh, he added "I miss the little guy, always coming in here and hugging everyone. Ever since Radio got famous and moved to Home Range I haven't seen much of him at all."

Elizabeth's eyes lit up. "Blankey?"

"Yeah, you've heard of him?" Toasty asked.

"We _fought_ him!" Ellie exclaimed, standing up with the grandiose of an ancient storyteller. "He tried to choke me to death, but I was tough, and I resisted. Elizabeth ran like a little-"

"That's _not_ how it went," she groaned. "But yes, we ran into a little yellow blanket, if that's what you want to know."

"I'm glad to hear he's doing okay," he answered.

Toasty chuckled. "Fighting off a human. That's the _last_ thing you'd expect from him."

After a few minutes pouring over the menu, the girls both ordered some french toast and orange juice, not wanting to cost their friend any more than necessary. Wattson decided he would delight in a strawberry shortcake cheesecake pancake special.

"Wow, that sounds… interesting," Elizabeth said. "But I'm not that hungry."

"I understand," he nodded, not turning her way. "You want to get going."

She shuffled her feet. "I'm not trying to be rude, just…"

Ellie was not paying too much attention to the conversation at hand, instead watching as Toasty prepared the food with speed and skill no human chef could match. Elizabeth waited for her friend to come back and add something, but nothing was said. She bit into her roll, savoring the flavor, so Elizabeth decided to follow her example and let it blow over.

Wattson stared off in the awkward silence, before returning with a grin. "Never mind that. I was wondering, how do you feel about Potter?"

"He's the best!" Ellie quivered. "You should see his shadow puppets."

"I do." he fiddled with a bendy straw left out on the counter for them. "Almost every day. Whenever I get sick that's the entertainment I have to look forward to." His light flickered for a moment. "He's the best, really. No one else would be willing to sit through hours of me short-circuiting every month."

Once again, they were at a loss for words. Finally, Ellie said "we've heard a lot about that. I'm guessing most appliances don't get that sick, but-"

"You want to know why, huh?" He took a sip from his own glass of juice, which was the classic reddish-brown of apple cider. His brow lowered. "The truth is, I don't know. I just get sick a lot, that's all. Loumine says her brother has it too, so I guess maybe we're both just a defective model?" He turned his head. "Either way, that's really not important right now, the food is here!"

Toasty came, holding up the two plates of french toast and the cake that looked like something more fitting for a wedding than a quick brunch. The frosting on it was the color of bubblegum, bordered by a wall of whipped cream.

"Wow," said Ellie. "I wish I had ordered that." She grabbed the bottle of maple syrup for her french toast, which even with its blueberries in the dough and raspberries on top, still managed to look puny in comparison. But as she began to pour the syrup on, the cap fell loose, dumping half of the bottle's contents onto her plate.

Wattson laughed. "Whoops. Don't worry about it, Ellie. You can have mine." He pushed his plate over to her, which she stared at in awe.

"This is beautiful," she mumbled, digging her fork into the sugary mess, while Elizabeth downed her plate as quickly as possible.

"I've been meaning to ask you something," Wattson said his voice cutting through their silence. It was almost as if the world around them paused when he spoke, and the only light on was his own. "Have you two met any radios as you came through here?"

Ellie gulped. "Well, one."

"She was a bit eccentric," added Elizabeth.

He nodded. "They're all over the place. They're even more common than us lamps, and you can tell, there are plenty of us. Most of them live in Spark City, but there are always a couple wandering through."

"Most of the radios have got it rough," he said with a sigh, sipping on his juice. "They don't have mouths so they can't eat, and a lot of them cannot even talk on their own, doomed only to repeat what they hear and the signals in their heads, and nothing more. Some say the radios underground were cursed after the incident with the King's daughter so long ago, but that can't be true. I mean, the host of Radio Star is the most talkative person any of us have ever met! Well, except maybe Potter, of course."

After a quick bite from her cake, which was more overwhelmingly sweet than she would like to admit, she asked: "is there anything inherently wrong with radios that we should stay cautious of?"

"I don't think so, it's just that somebody's been playing a prank on Potter with them," he murmured. "When no one else is around, a radio will pop out and will talk to him. She'll offer encouragement, flattery, and all the things a good friend would. Sometimes, she'll speak of predictions."

"Yeah, he told us about the little radio that keeps visiting," Elizabeth nodded, "but that's just about all he said."

Wattson sighed. "I just feel bad that my friend is getting conned like this. If someone was actually trying to help him, they'd say it to his face. They wouldn't hijack a little radio's signal and force her to do it for them. It must be some sort of prank."

The two girls sat there, thinking over whatever this person's intentions were, but Wattson slipped off of his chair before they had a chance to speak up. "Well, as much as I would love to stay, I need to get back to work. You take all the time you need, kids. Toasty, put it on my tab, okay?"

The other lamp rolled his eyes. "That guy never pays his bills."

Toasty shrugged. "True, but I don't want to lose my best customer. Especially if he brings in new business."

Ellie forced a smile, devouring a few more bites of the megacake that should never have been baked. "I'm sure he couldn't be talking about Didi. I'm sure that if he saw her, we would know. Didi is someone who's pretty hard to miss."

"Let's hope so," Elizabeth answered. "Let's hope so."

...

Loudmouth and Waffles are two of the part-shop appliances from the _It's a B Movie_ sequence, with names and personalities from Lampi01's Brave Little Toaster fanfiction series. Thank you for letting me use them!


	15. Illuminate

**Chapter Fifteen: Illuminate**

After hijinks, battles, shadow puppets, and the most sugary cake in existence, the girls were finally headed on their way, once again cutting through the foggy mist, taking two bottles filled to the brim with blue raspberry tea with them.

As they walked, the air around them began to grow warmer, though still not enough to necessitate taking off their flannel robes. They guessed air conditioners cooled this next area instead of refrigerators.

A sharp turn brought them away from the mist, and they were able to observe the brick walls that surrounded them. These were not the same ones as before, their indigo tone looking clean and crisp, as opposed to the faded lavender of the ruins. On either side of the path was a small river, caged off from the citizens by a metal gate and plenty of warnings posted on thick paper.

In some areas, water would drop down from below to feed the river, though this was off to the side and poised against the walls to keep the citizens safe from its culling power. And yet, the soft ultramarine spotlights on the ceiling illuminated the fall, sparkling on the water in a most calm and serene way. "It's strange to think that something so beautiful could be dangerous to them," whispered Elizabeth, though not sure why she felt the need to stay quiet and preserve the mood.

Ellie nodded. "Yeah." Every word they said, and every footstep they took, echoed through the concrete bricks, mixing with the crinkling flow of the river, like an indoor pool back on the surface. "Looks like another long day of walking, huh?"

Twirling a strand of hair in her finger, Elizabeth agreed. She was quiet, only giving another nod back.

But like always on this main road through the Underground, they were destined to meet up with the living appliances. The path expanded, forming a bridge over a larger section of the river as they approached a booth, similar to the ones operated by the sentries back in Refridgera.

"Great, another battle," whined Ellie. "Well, get the slingshot ready. I've been itching to try it out, and-"

"Let's just see what they want." Elizabeth jerked the backpack away. "Perhaps it's just a toll booth, or an ice cream stand, or-"

"Hi!" They both turned to find a new appliance looking up at them. This was another lamp, like Wattson, but only half his size and without a cord. Her metal neck and base were both the dark golden red of apple cider, while her silver-tinted light bulb was shaped like a glittering diamond. "I'm Ampara! Who are you?"

Ellie grinned, admiring the little lamp with big eyes, the red irises not enough to take away from her cuteness. "I'm Ellie St. Peters, and this is Elizabeth. We're just passing through, so please do not attack us."

"I can assure you," Elizabeth continued, "we mean no harm."

"Of course not!" the little lamp giggled. "You're just a couple of kids trying to watch her, like me! Boy, when my parents realize I'm gone, they're going to blow a circuit! But I don't care how long I get grounded. If I can see her with my own two eyes, my life will be worth living."

Elizabeth's eyes narrowed. "Who are you talking about?"

"Only the most awesome and coolest Royal Guardslamp ever!"

"Wattson?" asked Ellie.

"No, Loumine, of course!" Ampara's voice raised in pitch as she said the name of her hero. "I want to be just like her when I grow up!"

"But…" the brunette trailed off. "Doesn't she kill people?"

Ampara gasped. "How dare you suggest such a thing! Well, I guess she would kill a _human_ if they wound up here, but that's just so we can cross the barrier. Besides, my parents say humans are so dumb it would be a mercy kill. Good thing _you_ aren't humans, right?"

Ellie bit her lip. "But we- wait, what type of appliance _are_ we, even?"

The little lamp titled her head. "You're robots, aren't you? I know the King would _never_ let a human wear the royal crest, so you must be robots."

"Of course we are," she nodded. "We are definitely robots."

They decided it would be best to continue on before innocent little Ampara learned the truth, and made their way up to the booth when who did they find but another familiar bronze lamp.

He grinned up at them, waving. "Good to see you again!"

"What are you doing here?" Ellie asked. "Isn't your station back in Refridgera?"

"Yeah, but nobody wants to hang around in the cold all day," he chuckled. "You know how bad that would be for my circuits? Besides, having an extra post means extra hot chocolate vouchers when I get back home."

She shrugged in reply. "Yeah, that is a pretty good reason to get a second job. Does everyone get paid in hot chocolate, or-"

"It's not pay, it's a bonus," he replied. "Loumine wants to insure that all of her soldiers are warm and-"

"Loumine?" Before they had a chance to react, Ampara was already bouncing at their feet. "Did somebody say Loumine? Please tell me somebody said Loumine!"

Wattson sighed with a smile, waving his cord as though he was holding out his hand to gesture her way. "Kids, meet Ampara. Loumine's biggest fan, and most likely my successor one day."

"Yeah! I'm going to be Loumine's favorite!" she cheered.

He continued his happy banter. "She wants to hang out with Loumine more than even Potter."

"Even more than you!" Ellie nudged Wattson with her elbow. "With the way you fawn over her, I bet you-"

He blushed. "Did Potter tell you about that? I assure you, it's just a silly crush! Our relationship is strictly professional, and-"

She smirked. "If it was you wouldn't be so insistent on it. Huh, Wattson? You've got to tell her eventually, you know!"

Elizabeth did not care for the childish game of crushes, so she turned her attention to Ampara, waiting for a chance to talk. "But why would you take Wattson's job," she asked, "when you could be the captain yourself?"

Her eyes flickered as much as they could with the dim lighting before her posture dropped. "That would be cool, but if I took Loumine's job, I wouldn't get to work with her. Second best will have to do."

"Loumine? Work with her? Work with her?" A fifth voice, an excitable tenor with an intense transatlantic accent, cut through the conversation. The girls and Ampara both turned to look, but the voice was from within Wattson's booth.

"I have somebody I'd like you to meet," said Wattson. "He likes to hang out in the booth with me." He bent down for a moment, picking up something within the walls.

When his head rose up again, he was holding up a small radio, much like Didi, but with noticeable differences. He was an inch taller, and his speakers were round and lacked pupils. His antenna and dials were also on the other side of his body. "Hang out in the booth!" he squeaked, his voice holding the familiar tinny tone.

"You remember what I told you about radios, right?" he questioned.

They both nodded. "Yeah, they can only repeat what they have heard."

Wattson nodded. "Perfect. However, radios are still quite smart and love to help people. Chances are you'll run into a bunch. Like Gala here!"

He made a small groan, more static than any human noise. "Gala?"

Wattson laughed. "His full name is Galanthus. He hates when I forget that, even though I am sure nobody ever uses it. Anyway, Gala keeps me company during long shifts."

He nodded, making no sound except static and clicking noises. Ampara kept giggling, ready to turn the conversation back to Loumine once more. "I've heard rumors Loumine's been searching for a human nearby. I'm going to go run up ahead and see if I can spot her!"

All four of them waved goodbye. "Tell her I said hello!" called Wattson, but she was already out of earshot in her crazed dash to meet her hero.

Gala tapped at Wattson's bulb. "Is everything okay, buddy?"

"Buddy, buddy!" he called back, with frustration in his voice.

Wattson froze up. "I can't believe I almost forgot!" He reached below the booth once more, pulling out a scrap of paper with a number written on in neater handwriting than most humans they knew. "This is Potter's phone number. He forgot to give it to you, and asked me to pass it on."

"Phone number?" pouted the radio.

Wattson face-corded. "Thank you, Gala. I'm sorry I forgot to say that."

While Elizabeth entered the number into her phone, Ellie reached out to the radio, petting his plastic top. He responded well, purring like a little kitten. His antenna shook, before going limp as he relaxed. "He does enjoy a good pet," insured Wattson.

"Does enjoy a good pet," he echoed back.

She squeaked in joy. "You're all just so adorable!" Gala nodded, happy to play along if he still got pets.

"You should probably keep going." Wattson tapped on the desk of his booth, pushing a pencil to the side. "As much as we love to talk, you've got to face Loumine, and it would be best to get it over with."

Elizabeth crossed her arms. "Why don't you just talk to her for us? That way we wouldn't have to deal with _another_ murderous appliance going after us."

"Are you talking about Potter?" he shook his head. "He couldn't bring himself to kill a common fly. I don't even know why he wants to be in the Royal Guard in the first place. And for Loumine, I know that nothing I say will convince her to back down, but with what I saw against Potter, I trust you will be able to survive. Just outlast her, and she'll come around."

She gave a smile, which Ellie knew was not real. "Sure thing."

Wattson sighed. "Loumine is a wonderful person. She's just… a little intense the first time you meet her."

"Of course she is," Ellie smirked.

"Not like that!" he yelled, jumping up from his seat with his cheeks turning pink.

Gala began to mime out a cuddling, using his antenna as a partner. "Not like that?" he taunted.

Wattson grit his teeth. "Not you too, Gala."

Elizabeth sighed, grabbing her friend by the shoulder. "Ellie, it's time to go."

"Come on, can't we at least take Gala with us?" she pouted. The radio turned up to her as well, trying his best to appear adorable and pathetic with a drooping antenna.

She thought for a moment. "Well, if Gala would like to come, I don't see why he couldn't stay with us for a little while."

He bounced off from the outside deck of the booth onto Ellie's shoulder, rubbing up against her neck in request of more pets. They left Wattson with a big thank you like usual, to face what this new warmer area had to challenge them.

"Buddy, I know you're worried, but I'm sure we'll be fine!" she gave her a pat on the back. "And if we aren't, well, at least we won't have to do anymore walking, right?"

Elizabeth giggled. "Yeah, that's true."

A few minutes down the road, they ran into another box, which held the same message as before. "Are these like some sort of locker system?"

Ellie shrugged. "Your idea is as good as mine."

"Well, I think I'm going to leave the tea here," she said, swinging the aqua backpack to her side, unzipping it. "I know Potter wanted us to keep it, but it's too heavy."

"Yeah," Ellie nodded. "Just let me take a sip first." After chugging two-thirds of one jar, they were placed in the box and set aside.

The rumble of flowing streams and generators continued to grow louder, the two approaching the largest of the rivers they had seen so far. The bridge that crossed it was constructed from the same tight bricks as the indigo walls around them, with a sturdy glass barrier tall enough for most appliances to avoid getting wet.

As the girls crossed, Ellie leaned up against the wall, Gala running up her arm to avoid the stream, which she hardly noticed as she was too busy gazing off. "Don't worry buddy," she laughed. "I won't let you get hurt."

He glared up at her for a moment, before turning and realizing why she stopped. In front of the waterfall stood a mural, much bigger than either of them, every bright color constructed from grand, dramatic stippling.

In the corner, a blazing sun shone above, illuminating a grassy hill. Both girls recognized it as the one they fell from. The mural used the roots of flowers as a transition and frame for the rest of the painting, illustrating scenes they both assumed were from appliance history.

To the left, A ceiling lamp was held above a velvet sapphire rug, wearing a crown shaped like silver branches. Besides him was a pink tower crane both of them recognized. "Sweetie," Elizabeth muttered.

The center held various illustrations of a hiking trip leaving the ruins, a construction site in Refridgera, a pink lamp standing tall on a cliff overlooking a river hoisting a spear shaped like a lightning bolt, and what appeared to be a towering elevator.

And the final image on the far right was a gray statue, of two young humans, walking hand-in-hand, the taller one with longer hair pointing to something off in the distance.

"That must have taken forever!" Exclaimed Ellie. "Is that what happened to appliances when they fell down here? They all had to leave the ruins, right?"

Gala nodded. "Had to leave the ruins."

"But why?"

He shook his head. Even if he knew, he could not answer.

"Too bad we don't have a camera on us," Elizabeth sighed.

Gala's eyes grew wide. He slid down, pressing a button on the railing. As he did, the girls heard something click behind them. Both turned with wide eyes to see a portion of the gate had opened up, swinging open to reveal a small crawlspace protected from the stream of the water. "Well," muttered the brunette, "after you?"

Ellie was already creeping under, Gala following right behind. It was only a meter or so before they could stand up again, the space leading to an area about the size of either a small bedroom or a large bathroom. Within it was a fluffy gray dog bed with matching blankets and pillows. A screen was set up, showing various locations throughout Refridgera and the new area they were exploring. The walls held a couple paintings of flowers, but otherwise, the room was empty.

"I'm guessing this is where the night guard lives," Ellie remarked.

Gala began to hop up and down. "This is where the night guard lives!" Using his antenna, he pointed to himself.

" _You're_ the night guard?" Ellie gasped. "Wow, that's so cool!"

He slipped into his bed, before re-emerging with an appliance-sized bandana on his antenna. "Night guard, night guard!" He also held another object in his stumpy legs: an old Polaroid camera with an ocean blue lanyard attached.

Elizabeth grinned, giving him a pat on the head. "That's just what I wanted, Gala. Would you mind if we took it?" He placed it in her hand before jumping back onto Ellie's shoulder, anxious to keep going and see what else these strange creatures were up to.

The door opened up once more, and they left to cross the rest of the bridge, only stopping to take a picture. They soon found a tall patch of grass on the other side, and a single lamp standing guard to the side of it.

She was built with the same design as Wattson and Ampara, maybe an inch shorter than the former, but her pointed spade-shaped bulb was tall enough to make up for it. She was pink with a metallic sheen in the twinkling lights built into the ceiling almost like stars. Her wide eyes with neat lashes were the color of a marsh, currently focused on something up ahead of her. Her cord was held tall behind her, like the tail of a cat waiting for its prey.

At first, they wondered who it was until Ellie pointed to the blue bandana tied around her neck.

It was Loumine, the one who would stop at nothing for their souls.

"That's her," Elizabeth whispered, muscles tensing up in fear. If it were not for Ellie grabbing her and pulling the three of them into the grass, she would have stood there, waiting in frozen silence for the lamp to turn around and give her a swift doom.

Sitting in the grass, they found another lamp, waiting in anticipation for what would happen next. "I"m so glad you decided to join me! It's going to be great!" said Ampara, voice only just soft enough not to attract the guard's attention.

"Keep quiet!" muttered Ellie.

Through a clearing in the grass, they were able to watch as another figure approached Loumine. She held out her metal lightning bolt at first, prepared to strike until she realized who it was. "Potter, don't scare me like that next time, alright?" She spoke with a soprano voice, but much more mature and self-entitled than Didi's childish squawking.

He gripped his fork fingers, looking up at her with concern in his eye. "Hello Loumine, I'm so glad to see you… I'm here with my report for the day. Regarding the humans I told you about earlier, I-"

"You caught them, right?" Her smile revealed the wires running through her. "Excellent. We-"

"Actually, they… they…" he let out a large sigh. "I failed."

Her smile dropped, and her eyes lowered. "Let me guess. You didn't even try. Typical. You're all bark and no bite, my friend."

He turned away. "It was just… they were really nice! They played along with all the puzzles and tried my tea! They even enjoyed my shadow puppets… I'm sure we don't have to hurt them, I'm sure… I know..."

She face-corded. "You want to be a Royal Guard, and you can't even catch a couple of humans? You made _tea_ for those sick creatures?"

"These humans were nice!" he yelled, covering his mouth as soon as he did. "Sorry."

"Potter, if you ever want to join us, you will need to actually _fight._ " She hopped up close to him, her voice lowering. "I still can't believe you actually _befriended_ them instead, but I think I can work with it. I'll even say you 'lulled them into a false sense of security' on the records, how about that?"

He moved back. "I don't know if I can, Loumine."

"You will, or else, we'll never get out of here." Her voice was a growl. "You'll never get to see the surface, and all their different kinds of tea, and most importantly?" She gave him a tap on the shoulder. "You'll never get to join the Royal Guard."

Potter gulped. "I… I understand. I'll get to it right now."

He left without another word, for the first time without a single laugh. Seeming satisfied, Loumine began to leave, adjusting her bandana.

"Wow, she's incredible!" Ampara yelled, jumping for joy. She only stopped once Gala pulled her back down.

Both girls felt their hearts drop as Loumine turned around, hazel eyes locked on the patch of grass. She held up her spear as she approached, each 'step' feeling like a nail in the coffin. They held their breaths and grit their teeth, afraid to make any sound at all.

She looked around for a moment, scanning the area for any disturbances, but the room was silent except for the rushing of water behind them.

It was only when nothing appeared that she let her posture drop a little, and shook her head. "Whoever that was, it isn't funny!" she yelled, before leaving for whatever task was next on her list of duties.

Once she was gone, Gala let go of the little lamp, unnerved that he had to silence a child but unable to apologize. The girls let out deep breaths and sighs of relief, while Ampara continued to bounce with joy. "Wow, wow wow! Did you guys see the way she looked over here? That was so cool! This is the best day of my life! Let's go and see if we can watch her beat those human up!"

Ampara ran off, screaming for Loumine to wait up. "That kid's going to be annoying," Ellie said.

Elizabeth was still shaking from the fear. "She could have killed us!"

Gala shook his head. "Could have."

"Huh?" she asked.

He sighed. " _Could_ have."

Ellie stood up, dusting the dirt off of her robe. "I think he's trying to say that she _didn't._ She could have, but she chose not to." Gala approved of this answer, giving her another neck nuzzle.

She sighed, standing up herself. "That's only because she didn't see us, remember?"

"Let's just get going," was Ellie's only answer. "I can tell we'll have a lot farther to walk."

Gala was unnerved by the tense mood, hating to see his new friends upset. He looked around for anything that might interest them, his eyes finding just the thing.

He squeaked, pointing to a save point up ahead. "Good eye, Gala!" Ellie exclaimed, already smiling. She ran off to grab the flickering star like before, Elizabeth lagging behind.

Despite the feeling of dread the thought of an angry lamp chasing them down brought the girls, and their own strife, they were determined to keep going and get to the bottom of the strange world, once and for all.

 **MASTERTALE**

 **END OF ACT TWO**

" _End of act two!"_

Loumine is an OC belonging to Lampi01. Thanks for letting me use her!


	16. Determiners

**Chapter Sixteen: Determiners**

Despite unwanted tension growing between them, both of the girls tried their best to stay civil, and for the most part, succeeded. Gala kept riding on Ellie's shoulder, keeping watch for any danger or someone who could help.

He gave Ellie a nudge in the neck with his antenna when he saw a shamrock green tower crane approach them, wearing a single bronze ring around his head. "Greetings." He rolled up to them, his sharp claws contracting as he did.

"Wow, you look just like Sweetie!" exclaimed Ellie, before covering her mouth in fear of revealing the crane's existence. Even though no one ever said it was a secret, both of them had always assumed. Why else would she hide away in the ruins?

His eyes narrowed. "You've met my sister? Ever since she broke up with that lunatic king she called a husband, nobody-"

She gasped. "She married the king? Does that mean she's a _queen?_ "

Elizabeth gulped. "That means she knows what he's like first hand."

The crane raised his head up, making him appear taller. "Yes, my sister married into royalty, and until their divorce, she served as the Queen. But most importantly, it made _me_ a Prince."

"Well, that would explain the crown," she remarked.

"Now, I suppose you humans are here to slaughter the king." The Prince chuckled as the wind blew past, ruffling the girl's long hair. "As annoying as the royal burnout is, he is still my brother-in-law, so I cannot let you harm him."

"We won't, I promise!" Ellie shook her head, hands also beginning to shake. "We just want to get out of here and-"

Prince leaned into her, mere inches away from her face, seeing the sweat roll down her forehead. "And to do that, you need to kill the king. Face the facts, my dears. Your death will serve the greater good much more than anything you could do alive."

Gala jumped up from Ellie's shoulder, squeaking and sputtering. "Dears… serve the greater good… alive!"

"Great, another one of those stupid radios?" The Prince rolled his eyes. "Spare me your rambling and let those of us who can actually _speak_ do the talking, alright?"

His antenna lowered like a scolded puppy, turning away from the crane and watching Ellie's crinkled nose and snarled lips to see how she would react.

"How dare you!" she yelled, having to hold herself back from the slapping the so-called 'prince.' Gala hid within her hair, afraid of having any more attention brought his way. "Even if he doesn't say a lot, Gala is still a lot smarter and kinder than you'll _ever_ be!"

Despite every instinct to back away, Ellie held her ground, forcing herself to hold her feet in place. She looked the crane in the eye, not understanding how the brother of someone so caring could want them dead on the spot. "As we said earlier, we just want to get home. I don't think that is too much to ask for. Why don't you just apologize to Gala and then roll off on your merry way?"

"Didn't they tell you anything?" he growled against the rushing water and echoes of static. "Or are you humans just that dense?"

Elizabeth, taking a deep breath, stepped forward, pushing her friend back. "Leave us alone!" It was a struggle to keep her voice from breaking as the fear rose in her throat.

Prince let out a deep sigh. "I see you want to do this the hard way." With those words, Ellie knew to begin digging out the slingshot. Even if she had nothing but the occasional stone to shoot at him, the metal was still a better defense than the dented plastic shovel or nothing at all. "I suppose I cannot blame you. Better to go out a bang than a bust."

And with that, the souls appeared. The only difference was that this time, a third soul was glowing. It was small and white and upside down, floating right beside Ellie. They knew without a second doubt that it was Gala's. He was being attacked too.

He gasped, holding out his antenna like a sword, and preparing to jump off of Ellie's shoulder and attack their foe. Both of the girls were also prepared for whatever complicated slew of snow white bullets were sent their way. Ellie held up her empty slingshot as though it was a shield. Elizabeth's eyes darted around for any way to escape.

If they stepped back, the violent Prince would only follow them, mechanical wheels being much faster than human feet. Moving forward would bring them straight into his path. They could only defend and hope he gave up.

"Your move," Elizabeth called, not breaking her heavy gaze.

"Gladly," he said with a smile. But instead of forming a magic attack, he narrowed in on Ellie. She backed away, heartbeat racing in her ears and drowning out the water.

Still, it could never block out the sound of Gala's shrill static scream as he was picked up and thrown against the brick wall.

He looked up in fear, eyes wider than ever before. His speakers let out multiple tones at once, none of them forming coherent words. The girls tried to save him, but they were blocked off by Prince as he crushed the small radio under his wheels, silencing any sound but cracking plastic.

Ellie's eyes teared up and Elizabeth was frozen once again, unable to tear her eyes away from the sight the Prince revealed as he moved back. Gala was nothing more than a broken shell exposing wires and parts that once, somehow, through forces they did not understand, had made a person. But now it was nothing. No thoughts, no sounds, no soul…

 _Nothing._

"When will it finally dawn on these pitiful little appliances?" he spoke in such an innocent, ignorant tone, bringing Ellie's blood to a boil. "Those defective radios are worthless, and should make way for their Prince. That's the only way they'll ever be useful."

Ellie clenched her fists. "You just _killed_ him!" she screamed. "How dare you! You don't deserve to be the prince of _anything!_ "

She lept into the air, ready to pound the prince into oblivion, to show him just what he had done. Her efforts meant nothing as she smashed against him, falling to the ground with pain shooting through her body, throbbing in every inch of her. She was near certain the crackling sound she heard as she slammed into his claws was a broken bone. The health bar above her responded, with two-thirds of it depleting in a second.

Ellie tried to get back onto her feet, but collapsed in the effort, head landing right next to a couple of pebbles she could fire back, if only her arms could move without sending waves of pain throughout her entire body. She looked up to see his narrowed eyes, and hear him laughing in her face. "You are making this too easy for me."

The head of a wolf appeared next to her soul, with radiating white fur and empty eyes. It bit down with a loud bite and a crack of thunder, consuming it.

Ellie saw nothing after that.

…

…

?

…

Ellie awoke to find herself lying on the floor of an empty room. No… room was the wrong word. There were no walls or floor or ceiling in sight. She was the only thing inside, surrounded by darkness and nothing else.

All of her pain was gone, leading to her wondering if she had been taken to the hospital. Standing up, a dim light entered her vision. It was _her._ Her entire body had become nothing but a dim red outline. "I… died?" There was no echo sounding back.

Unsure of what to do, she stood their, staring off into the unending nothingness. All she could feel were the tears that streamed down her face, and even those were numb.

"Is this all there is?" she thought out loud; anything to fill the void. "Nothing at all for all eternity?" The thought of being alone so long, with nothing to do and no one to talk to, made her knees buckle. She fell to the floor, but felt no pain. Even pain would be better than nothing. "Is this what Gala is seeing? Is he all alone too?"

"You were right, Lizzy," she sobbed. "We shouldn't have come here. I'm sorry!" She yelled with all the volume she could muster, even if no one would ever hear. "I'm sorry!"

"What was that?" a voice cut through her pity party, one Ellie recognized in a heartbeat.

She turned to see Elizabeth standing behind her, also glowing red. "No, please continue," she laughed. "I want to see where this leads."

Ellie pouted for a moment, but in the end, she was overjoyed to know that at least she would not be alone. The tears became tears of joy and relief as she embraced her friend. Or at least, as she tried, as they moved right through each other.

"Well, this is not what I expected the afterlife to be," Elizabeth remarked, much calmer about the whole ordeal that Ellie was. Then again, she did not have to arrive alone.

She stammered. "How… how did he get you?"

Elizabeth took a moment to process it all. "After you got killed, I took the slingshot and started beating him up with it. I actually managed to give him a good dent right under the eye! As you can probably guess, that didn't go too well. I think I was smashed like Gala, but I can't remember too well."

"Poor Gala," she sighed. "I wish he was here."

"Where are we, even?" Elizabeth asked. "Is this Limbo?"

Ellie tensed up. "I know I wasn't a _saint_ but was I really _that_ bad?"

"I guess we just wait and see what happens." Elizabeth sat down, looking down at her hands. "Just like we should have in the first place."

"Come on!" Ellie stomped her foot.

Her friend turned to face her. "Hey, you said it first, buddy."

Accepting defeat, Ellie sat down besides her. They were left there in the nothing for at least a minute, unsure what to say. Then, Ellie began to hear something.

"Please, not yet!" The voice was childish and familiar, yet she could not place it. "You can't leave me just yet!"

"Is anyone else here?" They both stood up, searching for who else was speaking.

"You must stay strong, Muse!" called another voice, a gravelly tenor with an almost German accent. "You need to stay determined!"

"Muse?" Elizabeth echoed.

"It's time to wake up!" Pleaded the first voice. "You need to wake up!"

And with that, the room filled with fog, and lights began to burn around them. Outlines could be made out off in the distance. "Are we reaching heaven?" Ellie asked.

Elizabeth grabbed her hand. "Were we sent to hell?"

A rush went through them, akin to the feeling of dropping on a roller coaster, but with no explanation. They clustered together, embracing in one last hug, before…

…

Both girls opened their eyes to see the brick halls of the watery land laid out before them once more.

"We have returned," Elizabeth stammered, looking down to see both their hands, made of flesh and bone once more, on the same save point they had seen only minutes earlier. "How?"

"Returned?" Ellie gasped when she heard Gala, still resting on her shoulder as if nothing had ever happened.

"Gala, you're okay!" She had to wipe a tear of relief from her cheek, before embracing him in a tight hug. He struggled to escape for a moment, before returning it with his tiny arms. The joy swelled up in heart, glad to be back with her friend.

"...okay?" he asked, still confused.

"What just happened?" Elizabeth pulled away, looking around for any sort of clue. "Wait… I think we got some sort of… second chance!"

"We need to avoid that Prince this time," Ellie shuddered. "Perhaps we should go find Wattson and get his help. I bet he knows what to do!"

Gala nodded. "He knows what to do."

"Good plan," she nodded. "I'd hate to run into Prince again."

"Let's also ask him about these save points." Ellie gave her radio friend another quick hug. "But first, let's get out of here."

They walked back the way they came, losing time but happy to do it if it meant not being killed again. Ellie wondered if she should tell Gala what she saw, but after a moment's hesitation, she figured it would be best left between the two of them, at least for now.

Chills ran through their spines as they heard wheels approaching, and the Prince muttering to himself. Something about 'puny appliances.' They walked faster, hiding along the walls. Unable to spot them, he continued about his own business.

None of them stopped to admire the mural as they crossed the bridge once more.

…

Prince is an OC belonging to Lostinawhisper. Thank you for letting me use him! I am sorry that he has to be a villain in this AU, but the reason why will be explained later.

And thank you to everyone reading this as well! I know this chapter was a little dark, but this _is_ an Undertale fanfiction. They have to die at some point to discover determination.


	17. Rambling Waters

**Chapter Seventeen: Rambling Waters**

"Prince, I'll take care of them, alright?" Wattson locked eyes with the crane many times his size, not noticing both girls shaking and clenching their teeth. "I'll save you some time and bring them to the king myself."

The image of Gala thrown against the wall was still fresh in their mind, even if Prince had no memory of his actions. Nobody did but them. It all had been rewritten, and they had survived this far.

Ellie forced herself to a take a deep breath. She longed to fill the silence with her defense, all the reasons she deserved to live, but realized that was what killed them the first time, and kept her mouth shut.

After a few long seconds, he let out a long sigh. "Fine, but if they get loose, I am not the one to blame." He began to turn away from the conversation, long bored with the whims of small appliances.

"Wait, one more thing," he called, Prince not even looking his way. "Stay away from the save points. The doctor wants to study them."

"That old fool?" he scoffed, already leaving. "Fine."

They waited in silence for Prince to roll off behind the many hallways of the new, somewhat warmer area. Even the wind seemed to lighten up once he was out of sight.

"Thank you so much!" Ellie grabbed him for a hug, which he was unable to squirm free of.

Elizabeth nodded with a smile. "Thanks."

He shrugged. "That is just what friends do, you know? Anyway, would you mind putting me down, please?"

"Oh, sorry!" She let him down.

Watton grinned, giving her a tap on the foot. "It's not a big issue. But may I ask, why are you so scared? I know Prince is much more vinegar than honey, but I doubt he would actually hurt you."

"Sure he wouldn't," Ellie replied, forcing her eyes not to roll. _He has no way of knowing._

"He would!" Added Gala. Her fingers clenched as he spoke. _Does he remember after all?_

"Come on!" Wattson groaned. "He's not that bad." The lamp leaned in, whispering "and even if he was, which of _course_ he isn't, I don't need him leaning down my neck. Did you get that?"

Relieved that Wattson was not completely out of his mind, the girls gave him another quick hug and carried down the path. "How often does he come by here?" Elizabeth asked.

"Pretty often," his light flickered on for a moment, blue sparks coming and fading within it. "Look, we should stop talking about him, alright?"

The part walked in silence for a few good minutes, allowing their footsteps and Gala's faint static to echo and cut through the rumbling river. It was only when Ellie heard her phone ring that they began to talk once more.

"Hello?" It was Potter on the other line.

"How did you get our number?" she asked in turn. "I mean, we got yours, but Wattson…"

"Are you a mole?" Elizabeth's eyes narrowed.

He shook his head. "No, I'm a lamp. And I bet you think Gala's a kitten, don't you."

"He sure acts like one," Ellie asked, with him purring in response, possibly even giggling, though it was hard to tell with only beeps and static to make noise.

"Huh?" Potter asked.

She laughed. "Nevermind. What was it you called us for?"

"Oh, yeah…" he trailed off. "What were you wearing again? I'm asking for a close friend of mine."

"Please tell me this isn't another failed round of Truth or Dare," Wattson groaned.

"No, of course not! She just thought she saw a human wearing the Royal Robes earlier. Was that you?"

"I… think so," Ellie muttered. She did not see any harm in disclosing this. Everybody in the whole underground probably knew of their presence by now. Even so, she was still a bit nervous, fearing who this friend may be.

"Great! I'll go tell her. Thanks!" He shut off before she had a chance to respond. Ellie was starting to feel this was a habit of his.

Then, they heard another voice. Two, in fact, just down a hallway in the Northern wall. "I guess this is the way to go, Wattson said, leading them in."

In the corner of the hallway, so low Elizabeth had to duck, two radios stood, both the same silver color as Didi and Gala, all with minor differences. The one on the left had an extra dial, the one on the right had sliders instead.

"A long time ago, appliances would whisper their wishes to the stars in the sky." Mumbled the left one in a childish voice. "If you hoped with all your heart, your wish might just have come true. But now… all we have are the lights on the ceiling."

The girls looked up to see the faint aquamarine spotlights, embedded in the cave above them. Even if they were not the ones who trapped the appliances, they still felt guilty in that moment, tucking their hands into their pockets.

The radio with the sliders giggled for a moment, before repeating the exact same words, her voice deeper and more feminine.

"We get it!" Elizabeth exclaimed, clenching her teeth. "We're sorry!"

"No, that's not it," Wattson sighed as the two radios backed away, bumping into the wall and squeaking. "Whenever they hear something interesting, they'll repeat it back and forth, so they don't lose the ability to say it. Still, it tends to get corrupted over time, fading into a garbled mess."

The first radio nodded. "All we have." His voice did sound distorted, quieter than the first time.

Gala bounced down, giving them both a hug with his antenna. "I love the radios," said Wattson with a smile. "They're all close friends."

"Are lamps that close?" Ellie asked while Elizabeth was trying to console the two she had offended with offerings of cake, before realizing they couldn't eat and feeling even more like a horrible guest.

"No." He did not even take a second to think it out. "There are a lot of us too, but we aren't close. Radios, however, are all like family. They have to be. Potter and I seem to be the only outsider who will talk to them beyond a casual greeting."

"We'll talk to them," Elizabeth exclaimed. "Do you guys want to come along too?"

Gala nodded. "Come along too! Come along too!"

They turned to each other, before looking back with irritated shakes of 'no.' Both scampered off, leaving Gala alone once more.

"Do you still want to come with us?" Wattson asked. He climbed onto Ellie's shoulder without a second thought.

"Now, this next area is a personal favorite of mine," he mused, hopping along with the girls following close behind. Pushing back a velvet curtain, he revealed a boardwalk, with long gray planks extending out beyond what they can see. Elizabeth stretched in relief as she could stand up straight with the higher ceiling.

It was all above a large river, every splash echoing off the concrete underneath it, as though it was a lazy river. Every sound bounced around the same way they did in the public pool back home. "I guess this is the main section of the water generator."

They looked down to watch the water flowing, and the light reflecting off of it. Ellie could have watched it all in awe for a long time if Elizabeth did not pull her along, desperate to make good time after the morning's holdup.

"Could you tell us a story?" she asked, out of the blue.

He blinked in surprise. "Huh?"

She sighed. "It's just pretty lonely down here. I can tell everyone feels the same. Might as well fill the space _somehow,_ right?" She let out a nervous giggle at the end.

He thought for a moment. "You know, I think there is one you two should hear." As they walked, he began to narrate.

 _The War of Humans and Appliances. Why did the humans attack? Well, I doubt you could answer. It was many, many generations ago. But neither can we. It seemed as though they had nothing to fear. You are unbelievably strong. It would take the souls of every appliance down here just to equal the power of one human._

 _Still, don't get too cocky just yet. You humans have one weakness. Ironically, this is the strength of your soul as well. You have the power to persist after death in the right circumstances. If a monster were to defeat you, they could take your soul._

"You can just say they would kill us." Elizabeth crossed her arms. "We're not _that_ sensitive."

Ellie nodded, though not defensive like her taller friend. "And what does all this have to do with that war you mentioned?"

"I was getting to that," he groaned. _An appliance with a human soul is a being I don't think anyone wants to fight. Only one was ever seen, and they-"_

"Hey, you!" They were interrupted by a woman's scream. Loumine was after them again, hiding behind the pillars that enclosed each side of the boardwalk and the river underneath.

She hoisted up her lightning bolt spear, tossing it at the girls. It landed right between them. Gala screeched out an EAS tone in response as he ducked under Ellie's ponytail.

Wattson looked to Loumine, then to the girls, his light flashing. "You run, I'll calm her down. Does that sound like a plan?"

They were already sprinting, chased by a multitude of glowing bolts. "Come back here, you meat sacks!"

A sharp pain went through Elizabeth's back as she was hit by one. It was zapped away as soon as it made impact, but it still lowered her health. The memories of the last time that bar hit zero were the only thing that kept her legs moving as her lungs began to burn.

Ellie, a bit shorter and not as athletic, was already falling behind. Even so, Gala was clinging to her shoulder for dear life, swinging his antenna around like a sword. Elizabeth grabbed her arm, pulling her along.

By the time she was ready to collapse, they reached the end of the boardwalk, their sneakers hitting the soft grass. She looked for any cover and found another patch of grass, like the one before, only this one was even bigger.

Pulling her friends in, she laid down, trying to keep her gasps for air from being too loud. Even so, they heard Loumine continue to approach, every hop filled with force and energy.

She got closer and closer, and her breathing was audible. The girls held hands, afraid to die once more. _What if we don't come back this time?_ They closed their eyes, awaiting what would happen next.

"Hi, Loumine!"

Surprised, they looked up to see Loumine holding up Ampara, wrapping her in her cord. "Seriously, Ampara? You need to go home." She no longer sounded like a threat, but a friend.

The apple cider lamp shook with joy. "You know my name. You know my name! Loumine knows my name!"

Loumine put the lamp down, sighing. "I know everybody's name, kid." Her voice dropped in pitch and grew furious once more. "That includes you, Ellie... Elizabeth… Gala."

Gala shook. Ellie gave him a quick pat to calm him down, afraid he would make any more radio noises and give them away. But that did not mean they were not worried either.

"Who are you talking to?" Ampara asked.

She growled. "The humans."

"I can help you look!" The little lamp posed in a heroic stance as best she could. "I might not have a cord, but I can still attack, and-"

"-I said go home!" She pushed the lamp to the side and began to turn back, looking for wherever the humans could have gone.

After a couple seconds, Ampara began to shake with joy. "I can't believe it! I got to talk with Loumine! This really is the best day of my life! It's too bad you guys were hiding. You could have seen her too!"

"You knew we were here?" Elizabeth's eyes went wide.

She nodded. "Yep. I was going to ask you what you were doing, but I figured you just wanted to see Loumine again. I mean, who wouldn't?"

"Please, don't tell her we're watching too," the brunette replied.

"Oh, so you're shy!" She chuckled. "That's fine, I understand. More Loumine time for me!" She sprinted in pursuit of her hero.

They soon found themselves entering another brick alley. They passed a small nook where more radios lived, giving Gala a warm greeting of squeaks and waves while showing the girls to their own private save point, which they had built their small two-room house around, furnished with quilting squares as tapestries and curtains.

"Thank you so much," Elizabeth sighed. "After those spears, I think we need this."

"Are you using it as some sort of light source?" Ellie asked. They all nodded in turn. "Cool!"

Further down the road, Gala led them to another crawlspace that opened up into a larger room, like his own, but instead of a lackluster apartment, it was a walk-in freezer. Both girls shivered as they crawled inside. Standing in the middle of it all was Blizz, polishing her cart. "Hey, good to see you again. Like my 'home base' if you will?"

"Don't you think it's a bit cold here?" Ellie asked through her chattering teeth.

"Cold here." Even Gala was shivering.

"Nah, I think it's just fine!" She shrugged, already digging through her cart.

"This place is even colder than Refridgera!" added Elizabeth.

"I know, isn't it wonderful!" you weren't interested last time, but you do look a bit thirsty. I have two cans of blue raspberry seltzer with your names on them!"

"Does _everyone_ know our names around here?" Elizabeth mumbled.

"It's a figure of speech," Blizz replied, with no knowledge of the previous encounter.

They decided to buy the cans, simply so they could get out of the store without it being awkward. Once they left and had warmed up once more, they decided to call Potter and tell him about the soda.

"See, I told you blue raspberry was great!" He cheered.

Elizabeth shoved the cans into her backpack, for the metal was too cold to hold for long. "Well, would you like some?"

"No thanks," Potter laughed. "I already have tea inside of me for whenever I get thirsty. But I'm flattered. I bet Wattson would be too. Do you know where he is?"

"The last time we saw him was at the boardwalk in… what's the name of the watery place bordering-"

"Spark City!" he exclaimed. "Too bad you don't have a smartphone. I could send you a map."

"I think we'll be fine," she sighed, as she prepared to hang up. "We just follow the path, right?"

Meanwhile, Ellie and Gala were talking to a local lava lamp, reading a book outside of his small cottage. "Hello, Gala," he grinned, looking up from his book and taking off his glasses. "Good to see you met some new friends."

He nodded. "New friends."

"I was just reading up on this book about stars," the lamp said, turning the page. "But… we can't really know what stars are, can we." He sighed. "Can you touch them? Can you eat them? Are _you_ a star?"

"Well, I don't think so…"

"We've been down here so long, we've forgotten what stars even _are_. I've heard they come from the worlds above. Like humans!"

"Interesting," she remarked, hoping Elizabeth would get off the line so they could continue.


	18. Her Theme

**Chapter Eighteen: Her Theme**

"Look, we don't want to fight you," Elizabeth groaned to the eager printer dancing around her feet, holding up its cord and miming out punches.

"Yeah!" Ellie chipped in. "We're bigger than you, and our souls don't taste that good anyway."

Gala chuckled. "Souls don't taste good." They hoped he was just joking.

"I don't want your _souls,"_ he spat. "What do you think I am, some kind of oven? Expect me to bake up a nice plate of cream puffs and stuff your soul into them?"

She shook her head. "Geez buddy, that was _your_ idea."

Before he had a chance to respond, she got another call on the phone. "Hate to cut the battle short, but I've got to take this."

After a short dash to the other side of the hallway where the twinkling 'stars' were not as bright, she picked up on the familiar friendly coffee pot. "Greetings! This is Potter! Would you happen to remember when I asked you about what clothes you were wearing?"

Ellie nodded. "Yes, how could I not?"

"The friend who wanted to know…" he trailed off for a moment. "Well, the thing is, her opinion of you two actually quite… violent."

"It's Loumine?" she asked, not even needing an answer to confirm her suspicion.

He sighed. "So you knew already."

"Yep."

"I had to tell her what you told me. She's my friend too. Perhaps you could find somewhere to change?"

Elizabeth grabbed the phone. "Potter, that's a great idea, but I'm sure she would still be able to find us."

"How?"

"We're the only ones here who are taller than three feet," she snickered.

"Wow, you're both such smart cookies," he cheered with a gasp. "That would have had me stumped. That reminds me, Wattson's a smart cookie too. He's helping you, right? I asked him to make sure you got through safely. That way, you can get past Loumine and we can all be friends!"

"He's walked with us for a little bit," Elizabeth answered, her fingers inching along the cold brick wall with the texture of concrete from the public pool back home. The thought made her want to freeze up for a moment, but she pushed it aside. _I have no time for dawdling._

After their quick conversation with Potter, they continued down a short hallway leading into another small village. Two shacks faced each other, stretching old human quilts stained by seawater as ceilings. Even the wood still held the smell of salt.

Each house had an open patio door, exposing the daily lives of the radios inside, as one family played a game of Old Maid, and the other was out on their porch, listening to a beautiful singing voice down the hallway.

The girls walked down to find a reel-to-reel recorder singing along to a karaoke version of an old song, one Elizabeth never heard before.

"This magic moment, so different and so new…" she let out in her legato voice.

Ellie quivered, bouncing up to finish the line. "...Like any other, until I met you!" She was not nearly as good a singer, not spending at least twenty minutes a day practicing as was typical in appliance culture, but the recorder still turned to her, with a rosy smile.

The music cut, and she waddled up to the two humans. "You know that song?" she asked.

"Yes, but I've never heard it sung better than that!" Ellie exclaimed. "You're the best singer I've ever heard!"

She blushed. "Really? I don't know." The recorder took a few steps back. "I didn't think anyone was listening."

"Listening! Listening!" They all turned to see a crowd of radios behind them, cheering for the shy recorder.

"No, no!" Her eyes darted back and forth. "You all heard that?"

Gala nodded. "Heard that!"

She was already turning to run off, but Ellie kneeled down to meet her. "Please, don't go. We all enjoyed it!"

"I don't know…" she muttered. "I hate singing for a crowd."

"That's fine," she chuckled, giving the recorder a hug. "I just want to make sure you know how good your singing is. If you think _that_ was bad, you should hear Lizzy here."

The recorder began to giggle, as Elizabeth rolled her eyes. "Yeah, and how about we listen to you at karaoke night?"

Gala began to jump up and down. Ellie had to turn her head the other way to not get caught on his antenna. "Karaoke night! Karaoke night!"

After giving the recorder the other jar of tea to apologize for interrupting, she directed them to a dead-end room with a smile. _Abandon All Donations, Ye Who Enter Here_ read the sign above.

Gala hopped down, investigated the bathroom-sized room for hidden traps, but all they found inside was a baby grand piano, painted taupe in stark contrast to the blue bricks all around them.

"Is this another night guard room?" Ellie asked, but Gala shook his head. "Or a bank, I guess?"

Elizabeth pulled back the guard over the keys, but found no secret message. "Let's keep going," she sighed, already heading for the exit, waving to the recorder and her attentive audience as they left.

Later down the hall they could not see any turns or twists or appliances to talk to for a long ways, so Ellie got on the phone to call Wattson once more, hoping the water rushing by in another hallway would not drown her out. "Hey, can you answer another question for me?"

"Sure, go ahead," he replied on speaker.

"Tell us more about human souls, and why everyone wants ours."

He sighed. _Their power is beyond anything we have. When an appliance dies, our souls disappear, and even the power of a human is not enough to take a living soul from its body._

 _There is only one exception to this rule. It is unknown how, but members of the Royal Family are endowed with a special power, either as they are born or crowned. Their souls can persist after death. Only for a few moments, but persist nonetheless._

 _A human_ could _potentially absorb this soul and become all powerful, just as they feared monsters would do, but this has thankfully never happened._

Along the hall, they passed a statue sitting in a pile of rubble, stopping to take a look at it. "Wait, i think I've seen this before," Ellie muttered, pulling a picture from her pockets. The one from back at the mural in the start of the water generator with endless hallways.

And sure enough, the statue fit to a tee, depicting the same two human children. The only difference is that the statue now was filled with cracks and wear from the water leaking above.

Ellie, not even sure why she felt compelled to, grabbed the dented shovel from the backpack and positioned it on the head of the statue, letting the water drop down the handle as opposed to damage the stone below. "There, much better."

"What?" asked Wattson through the phone. "Oh wait, you found the statue, right?"

Once dry, a music box within the statute began to play, each metallic note ringing a simple tune none of them had heard before. "Wow," she muttered.

The three of them stood in mutual silence, listening to the haunting melody.

Gala, climbing down to investigate, bounced around the statue and looked for what was playing, and why. "You see anything, buddy?"

He nodded, before turning away and running back down the way they came. "Wait, come back!" she called after him.

"I'm still here, Ellie," said Wattson with a tone of suspicion.

She sighed. "Not you, Gala."

He chuckled. "Yeah, he does that some time. But I'm sure he'll catch up."

Further down the hallway, separated from the rivers by thick walls, the holes in the ceiling became more and more frequent, with rain dripping down on the girls. Wattson had to leave and consult Potter, but he promised to call them back as soon as possible.

Even though their shoes and socks got wet from the puddles they had to step through, they still were intrigued and curious to see what came next. There was always something new around the corner to discover.

"Hey, you guys are here too?" The little apple cider lamp who got them in danger more than once stepped out, an umbrella taped to her neck. "Want to borrow my umbrella?"

"It's a bit too small for us, Ampara," Elizabeth frowned. "But don't worry, we're waterproof."

"Okay, that's good. Follow me!" They decided to humor her, as even Ampara was a better guide than none at all.

Ellie nodded, a small drop of water landing in her hair. "Would you like one of us to carry it for you, though?"

She shook her head. "No thanks. I already spent five minutes securing it."

"Why don't you just hold it?" asked the brunette.

Ampara shrugged, bouncing along with her usual cheer. "I don't have a cord. I'm completely battery powered."

"Oh, right!" She face-palmed. "I'm so sorry I didn't notice that."

"It's fine," she grinned, jumping over a small puddle, careful not to land in. "I'm still going to find a way to be as great as Loumine one day, cord or no cord."

The name sent chills through both the girl's spines. The lamps might be small, but they somehow managed to show up out of nowhere. One wrong step, and they could end up dying again.

Ampara, not knowing their reaction, continued. "Boy, Loumine is the best! She beats up all the bad guys and never loses! You should have seen her fighting off that giant mutant rat two years ago. It was the coolest thing I ever saw!"

"Mutant rat?" Ellie grabbed her friend for a hug, Elizabeth pushing her away.

"Yeah, but it's dead now." Ampara cheered. "All thanks to her. But that's _nothing_ compared to what she has in store for the next human who falls down. If _I_ were a human, I'd be shivering in my boots this very instant."

"Good to know," they both laughed.

Taking a right turn down a corner, they were faced with posters displaying a pink lamp standing tall, persuading any passers-by to _Join the Royal Guard Today!_ and protect their home from humans.

Elizabeth paused to look at it, reading every word over again. "I get the feeling nobody likes humans here."

"Not at all," Ampara replied. "Humans are the worst!"

"How do you know?" she asked, following the little lamp down the hall. "Have you ever met one?"

"No, but Loumine says-"

She groaned. "I don't care what Loumine says. Has _she_ met a human before?"

Ampara's head lowered. "No. But-"

"A human hasn't come down here in so long. Nobody really knows what they're like any more. I'm sure not _all_ humans are the worst."

Ellie nodded. "Yeah, what about the humans who made appliances in the first place? Without them, there would be no you."

"There would be no Loumine."

The little lamp was silent for the first time in a while.

Down the path, the walls were broken, the bricks torn down, revealing nothing but a bridge leading into the largest open space they had found during their trip. Below them, and on 'mountains' above them carved from the rocky cave walls, were hundreds of small shacks, cottages, and forts, bustling with radios going about their lives. Some even had built houses on top of others, creating mis-matched skyscrapers.

It all looked like one huge camp, or even village, riding along an upward slope to the ceiling of the large cave room, which was tall enough to fit even a full-sized tower crane. "Wow, this is amazing!" All the little houses looked like something out of a serene, surreal jigsaw puzzle.

"This is Spark City," Ampara said, still not back to her usual pep. "Where most of the radios who can't talk on their own live."

A radio whose house was on the edge of the main road walked up to them, handing them both a brochure that exclaimed _Welcome to Spark City_ in messing writing. "Thank you," Elizabeth replied. Another popped out from her house built from an old rusted mini-RV, and gestured for them both to follow her up a ramp.

The two girls agreed, with Ampara choosing to stay behind and continue looking for Loumine. They could not blame her. If Loumine was not trying to kill her, they would be impressed by her too. Ellie would enjoy watching as she beat up baddies in the old cartoons she watched with her mother. But Loumine _was_ trying to kill them.

They followed the bouncing radio up the steep ramp, it creaking with every step they took. Bunches of radios gathered around them, all painted in matte silver, bronze, or a creamy eggshell white. Some wore flowers or bows around their antennae, some even had a third speaker. But one thing none of them had were pupils.

"Didi has got to be a special case," Elizabeth muttered. "Do you think she's some sort of wizard or witch, or-"

"-Didi?" A few of them all echoed back in various voices.

Ellie nodded, leaning down. "Yes, yes! Do you know a Didi? She looks like you guys, but she has… um… painted ovals on her speakers that move around when she talks. And she _can_ talk!" A few already began to turn away. "Wait, sorry, I'm sorry!" She groaned. "Ugh, I wish Gala was still here."

They began to turn to each other, antennae shaking. "Gala, Gala, Gala!"

"So you do know Gala," she answered with a smile.

The one leading them nodded. "Know Gala."

Elizabeth thought for a moment. "Is there, perhaps, a radio... demon that frequents here?"

None of them answered, so they assumed that was a no. "Well, thank you anyway. Would you happen to know the way to the barrier, then?"

A bronze radio pointed with his antenna to a broken wood roadside, pointing up the ramp to a sliding door. "Oh, thank you!" They exclaimed.

Before they could leave, they were stopped and handed a small jewelry box, about the size of two fists. Opening it, they found five gold coins, a metallic blue pen with golden accents and a quill-like tip, all sitting beside a single letter.

"Please, human, take care." Elizabeth read aloud. "This place is not safe for your kind. You have probably heard about the war of monsters by now. For as fearful humans were of appliances taking their souls, not a single attempt was ever made, and many of our fellow appliances hold a grudge. If you ever need help or assistance, please, feel free to visit."

"Wow…" Ellie trailed off. "You guys are the best."

They all jittered and cheered, high-antenna-ing in joy that they had finally found a human they could help. The girls left with the promise to return and pay them back for their kindness.

The ramp had led them to a boardwalk up above the rest of the generator, overlooking a short waterfall, no more than a yard in height. Rocks and various human items littered the sandy edges.

Ellie looked down as she walked, trying to figure out what was going on down there. A silver lamp sat amongst the trash, coming through it. She giggled to herself, imagining how crazy it would be if a _lamp_ ended up on the next episode of _Hoarders_ when she got home.

"So, you have finally arrived." The girls jumped at the voice coming from right behind them. Turning around, they saw Loumine, who had snuck in while they were admiring the view. "I'm happy to see you again."

Elizabeth crossed her arms. Ellie took the opposite route, extending them to make herself appear bigger, forgetting the techniques in scaring a lamp would be much, much different than the ones required to drive a bear away.

Loumine took a hop towards them, forming her spear in mid air. "I've been waiting for this day for so long. Time to meet your end!"

She aimed for their feet, but a quick dodge had the spear land between two floorboards instead. "Drats!" she yelled.

As she pulled the spear from the bridge, the girls took the opportunity to escape, both running as fast as their legs could take them. Smaller spears were sent towards them as Loumine tried to retrieve her biggest one, which they all manage to avoid or kick away.

Even as their lungs burned in their chest like a fire about to go out, they forced themselves to continue. Still, it was no use. Once Loumine got her spear, she approached with great speed, having no lungs to exhaust.

"I've got to give you credit," she laughed, cornering the girls onto a dead end of the bridge, one without a bar to keep them from falling in. "You've made this a bit of a challenge for me. And I don't get challenged too often."

"Please, if you're going to kill us, at least be humble about it," Elizabeth grimaced. "You're still killing a couple of _children,_ after all."

Her eyes widened for a moment, her tail-like cord dropping, if only for a second, allowing the sound of water below to fill the room. She looked over her blue bandana, perhaps pondering if it really held the merit she believed it embodied.

Then, she pointed her spear, pointing straight down at the floor they stood on. Instead of striking them, she pierced the bridge, again, and again, and again.

Neither of them realized what she was doing until it was too late, and a crack spread through the wood, cutting their section off from the main body.

Before they had time to react, they were dropping below, the wind rushing through their hair and turning the organs inside of them. And as they hit the water, falling into the stagnant pond, even those sensations faded to black.


	19. Low-Watt

**Chapter Nineteen: Low-Watt**

" _Durinda, are you okay?" Ellie looked around, turning her head, but she could not see anything but darkness. She scrambled for the memory of what just happened._

 _The voice, one that sounded familiar but she could not place, came closer. "Few, we're both still alive. I don't know what I'd do without you."_

 _She leaned back, searching desperately for the source of the voice. With each turn of the head, her raven hair swung back and forth in slow motion. Soon enough, the darkness faded away into a garden painted in dreamy pastels and blurring scenery._

 _A hand reached out to help her up, and for the first time, she realized she was lying down. Gravity took effect once more, and she grabbed for the support, soon back on her feet._

 _The whole scene seemed to fill then; all the props were put in place. Strong winds blew up above and beat against the mountain with their loud roar, but could not reach Ellie or the boy beside her in the cave kept at a perfect cozy temperature. The only air blowing past was a soft breeze, only enough to rustle the cobalt and golden flowers below._

" _Wow, that's a long way up," chuckled the voice, now forming a human figure, around the same age as her, perhaps a year or two older. He was short, only coming up to her nose, with messy blond hair with the silky texture of sunflower petals trimmed right below his ears. He pointed upwards, where the cave walls above them made way for a cloudy sky._

 _Ellie laughed back, not eager to repeat this scene a second time. "Sure is." She knew it was a dream, it had to be!_

" _Too bad we forgot our lunchboxes. We could have had a picnic down here," he sighed, lying down on the cool green grass with his eyes closed and his hands behind his head as if he was about to take a nap. "I guess now we just wait?"_

 _Not sure what to do, she sat beside him, picking a single dandelion and blowing its seeds away. One landed on her cheek, which she was quick to bat away. He opened one lapis eye, frowning. "If I were you, I'd wish for a way out of here."_

 _The boy sighed, pulling at the edge of his short-sleeved sweater, all sky-blue except for a single yellow stripe at his chest. Looking down, she was donning a similar shirt, with the only difference being the colors were reversed._

 _She never liked sweaters, the ones her Grandmother making her always being scratchy and too warm to do anything but sleep in. But this was a bit thinner, made from softer materials, and she wished she could keep it outside of the dream._

 _That was not the only change she saw. Her hair was a dark mousy brown and cut to her shoulders, with heavy bangs falling in her face as soon as she pushed them back. "What's going on?" she mumbled. The boy did not hear._

 _It was only then they heard the crunching of flower petals approaching behind them. "Oh, it looks like it came from over here, Phil! I'll go see what it is!"_

 _Ellie jumped up from the ground, turning to find Sweetie. She held her head a bit higher, and her eyes had a life they did not before. Instead of the blue crocheted scarf she wore when they met, she was wearing a thin airy shawl the color of early sunrises._

" _A couple of human kids are here!" she exclaimed, unsure of what to do. Ellie reached out to grab her old friend, give her a hug, but her hands passed through as though Sweetie was made of nothing but mist._

 _The boy reached for her shoulder, but he too could not reach her. Ellie came to realize the dream was over, and it was time to wake up, even if it all seemed so real_

 _In an effort to force herself awake, she pinched at her shoulder, but within her mind, she could feel no pain._ Right, that's how you prove you're not dreaming, _she thought, chuckling._

 _But with this, her eyes began to open. Her real eyes._

The world painted before her in flashes and neurons gave way for the tasks at hand.

Ellie awoke to a dull pain in the back of her head and neck. Reaching back to rub the area, she found her regular raven hair was wet as if she just climbed out of the pool. Perhaps that is what happened, as she heard the flow of water all around her, and the air was thick with mist.

She was completely soaked, laid out upon an inflatable mattress that kept shifting back and forth. "You're finally up," Elizabeth said.

Ellie nodded, pushing herself up into a sitting position. "What happened?"

Elizabeth shoved her hands into the pockets of her own soaked robe. "Loumine cut the bridge and we fell down here. I think we both hit our heads pretty hard. I had this weird dream, and-"

"Me too!" she gasped. "I was back at- you know, why don't you go first?"

The other girl sighed. "Not much happened, really, but I was standing in an empty room. There was literally _nothing_ in there except a single dying bulb in the ceiling. But then, an orange magnet appeared out of nowhere."

"An orange magnet?" she asked. "Like a refrigerator magnet, or one of those horseshoe things?"

She shook her head. "No, a magnet crane. It didn't speak to me, but it hummed and nudged me like Gala kept nudging you. Then I woke up."

Ellie slouched down. "I miss the little guy."

Something poked her on the shoulder, a quick pierce just light enough to hurt. "Miss… Gala?" he asked, beaming back up at her.

Her eyes lit up, embracing the radio. "You came back! You came back!"

He giggled. "Came back!"

It was only when putting him back did she realize that he was covered in a putty-like goo, both gold, and purple in color. It rubbed off on her shirt, sticking wrinkles and creases together. "Eww, what is this?" He shook his head, not knowing the answer.

"Wattson's dry cleaner is going to be _mad_ ," laughed Elizabeth as she helped her friend off of the makeshift raft and into the waters coming up to their calves.

Gala pointed to a ledge in the rock on the southern side, where a second radio was sitting. She had a yellow dandelion wrapped around her antenna, and seemed to be looking at nothing in particular, not even the large humans passing by.

Ellie gave her a pat on the head. She leaned back, with nowhere to jump to. "Do you want to come with us? We're just heading down the main road."

The little radio, the smallest one they had seen without a parental guide, nodded. "Come… down the main road." Her raucous sing-song voice was even more distorted than most, garbled in the static. "Down the main road."

Elizabeth held out her hand for the radio to climb aboard, but she did not react. "Are you… blind?"

She nodded once more. "Blind."

"That's horrible!" Ellie cooed. "But don't worry. We'll keep you safe." The little radio seemed to like this, purring.

Elizabeth grinned, giving the new companion a hug, thankful she _wasn't_ covered in strange goo. "Do you have a name she asked?"

The radio thought for a moment, before shaking her head. "Well, we'll give you one!" Ellie looked her over, stepping past an empty Coke bottle as it drifted through the water. "You have that cute dandelion, so why not call you Dandy?"

She perked up at this. "Dandy!" echoed the two of them in agreement.

"Dandy?" a voice ahead of them roared and echoed through the pool. "More like _annoying._ "

"Great," Ellie groaned, already going for the slingshot and grabbing a couple of discarded bottle caps as ammunition. Elizabeth clutched the pen in her pocket, hoping that the pen would prove to be mightier than the sword like her mother always said. Gala held out his antenna, ready to joust.

They turned the corner, their footsteps as light as possible, peering around to see a silver lamp, similar to Wattson but with a sapphire-blue cylinder bulb. A light flickered within it as he sharpened the outside tongs of a dinner fork, a high tone coming from its metal each time.

He sat amongst piles of human garbage, coming up to their waists in waste. There was a path cleared for walking, but it was still high against the brick walls. Every scrap of paper, candy wrapper, and old DVD box was glistening with water droplets.

"Good to see you finally showed up!" The new lamp stood up straight but did not turn their way. "My name is Sparx. Lovely name, I know. Anyway, I've been waiting for a human to stop by here. I need somebody to test my newest weapon on, and I do not want to dent it on the first go. Your soft meatsack bodies should do quite nicely!"

Ellie rolled her eyes. "Testing dummies? That's what you want us for? Wouldn't we be more useful for, you know, our souls? You could become and all-powerful demon if you wanted!" Elizabeth was shaking her head and gesturing for her to stop the whole time.

"Let me guess: you side with those people who insist that human souls are all we need." His voice raised in pitch to mock the other appliances. "Look at me, I'm an idiot who's so bent on getting out of this place I never get any actual _work_ done!" He scoffed, banging his cord on a milk crate for emphasis. "Not me! I have a weapon to test and a sister to impress!"

He snapped the two prongs of his cord, making the souls appear. This time, neither Gala or Dandy's flickered up, so the girls assumed they would be safe. Still, Ellie hid them in the backpack just in case, hoping Gala would keep the goo still stuck to him from reaching Elizabeth's cake. She would never hear the end of that.

"When I'm done fighting you, I'll want to talk to your little radio friends!" Sparx taunted. "They'll be great spies in my army if they can't answer any of the enemies questions!" A small whimper was heard from the backpack. "If they're too pathetic for even that, I will still pay them for entertainment in my Royal Quarters."

"You want royal fools?" Ellie asked. "Wouldn't it be easier just to tell Ampara you're like, Loumine's brother or something? I can tell she would do anything for free if it meant a chance to meet Loumine."

He groaned. "No, and the correct term is jesters. Court _jesters._ Also, how did you know Loumine was my sister?"

She held up her hands in defense. "I thought you would have to lie to her. I didn't realize you actually _were_ related to Loumine."

Elizabeth nodded. "Please, could you get a message through for us? Tell her she needs to stop trying to kill us!"

Sparx sighed, sitting down. "Yeah, I know that feeling. Loumine is a bit of a hot-head at times. Siblings, you know? Anyway…" he bounced up. "Wait, no more of this! I have humans to stab!"

He rushed at them with his fork, both girls jumping out of the way as he landed on a pile of garbage blocking the way out of the dump and down the rest of the road.

"Let's wait this one out," Elizabeth laughed. "I think Loumine's bro is going to prove to be a rather… _interesting_ adversary."

"I will be the most interesting person you ever meet!" He screeched, throwing a couple smaller magic forks and spoons their way, dissolving into white mist as they hit the walls.

"Spoons, really?" Ellie taunted, pointing to her friend's shovel. "We've already got that covered. Sort of, at least."

"Spoons," echoed one of the radios in the bag.

He smirked, raising up his cord. "Fine, if you want something even more exciting, I will give it to you!"

A thick haze poured out from the garbage pile he stood on, forming many white rats standing in military fashion by his side. Each one squeaked and grabbed at thin air, a small spear appearing for each one.

Ellie took a large step back, a chill growing in her spine. "Why did it have to be rats?"

"Good to see you finally have the _correct_ response to someone of my superior intellect," he beamed. "Now, attack them, my minions!"

Knowing her friend's fear, Elizabeth jumped in front, taking the brunt of the attack. The rats stabbed at her, but none of them had any more force than a pinprick, taking multiple jabs to remove even a single point.

Nonetheless, Ellie still screamed as she shooed them away, pulling one off her leg and tossing it aside like the wrappers surrounding them. "This is even worse than that 'Ratman' horror movie you made me see!"

"Come on," the brunette sighed. "They're aren't even real. Just wait for the attack to be over, and they'll go away. See?" The rats began to climb off of the girls, standing back by Sparx's side.

Ellie snarled, gripping the slingshot. "You're going to pay for those filthy things!" Without a moment's hesitation, she fired the heaviest of the bottlecaps at Sparx, but not a single point dropped from his own health bar. She grit her teeth. "Uh oh."

He tapped against the wall, a one-handed form of slow-clapping. "I forgot to tell you. My sister and I are some of the toughest appliances down here. There's a reason she's Captain of the Royal Guard. Unless you can find another lamp, your attacks will be about as useful as shining your chrome with whatever slime was covering your radio friend."

She bawled her fingers into tight fists. "Drats. If only Wattson would pop up and fight for us."

Sparx's grin grew even wider. "Don't you mean _rats?_ "

"Not again!" she yelled as they pounced towards her, flinging them away with the slingshot. "Keep your filthy paws off of me!"

Once he gathered up his rats for the second time, Elizabeth ran to Ellie, whispering. "I have an idea. Our attacks can't hurt him, but a lamp's can, and _he's_ a lamp."

"So what you're saying is we should get him to attack himself?" she chuckled, covering her mouth so he would not hear their conversation. "As funny as that would be, how?"

She rubbed her chin for a moment, like the intellectual of the group always does. "Get the cake out of the bag, and throw it towards Sparx. Maybe they will follow it."

Ellie nodded, rushing to open up the bag. Dandy handed her the box holding the delicious treasure. "They _will_ follow it," she assured them.

Sparx laughed, doubting their little scheme would work until a corner of the cake was sent his way, and the rats scampered after it and its sweet cherry maple smell. In their quest to retrieve the food, they trampled over him.

"You low-watts!" he screamed out in pain. "You're supposed to attack the _humans!_ " The rats looked up, shame crossing their little rat faces. "You're fired! You're _all_ fired! And don't come back until you're ready to do some _real_ work!"

They walked away with their heads hung in shame, fading from sight. In the end of the day, they were never real, nothing but magic. "There, are you happy now?"

Ellie grinned. "Yes! Very much so."

Picking up his silver fork, Sparx shimmered in the light above them, coming from a tiny opening in the mountain too small and too high to ever be useable as an exit. "I don't need them anyway. Who needs servants when you have weapons like this? Time to finally test this thing and make my sister proud!"

With a sharp toss, he sent it flying towards them as a piercing javelin.

Until Elizabeth caught it, grabbing it without a moment's hesitation just as she had practiced in numerous gym classes.

He gasped. "How did you _do_ that?"

She smirked. "Fingers."

The lamp growled. "Well, what am I supposed to do now? I am _above_ wrestling a human, and-" He was stopped by the light in his bulb going out. "No no no no NO!"

With one last weak flicker, the light turned a deeper shade of blue. "Not _now!_ " His voice was much more nasally than before as if he had somehow acquired a cold during the middle of the fight.

Raising his cord, he tried to form more rat minions, but it was obvious he was straining to even generate the magic, let alone form it into a tangible attack. "Fine!" he groaned. "You win! But don't get used to it!"

Sparx stomped off without even trying to retrieve his fork. "Well then…" Ellie mumbled. "I'm glad _that's_ over."

"Agreed." Elizabeth stepped over the pile of trash their flickering adversary had stood on, pulling her shorter friend up onto the sturdy concrete floor that continued the road. "I hope this is the right path."

"Well, let's keep going and see what happens," she suggested.

"What happens?" Gala climbed out from the backpack, pulling Dandy along with him. "Keep going?"

"Yep, we'll keep going," said Elizabeth as she handed them to Ellie. "We'll keep going."

...

 **Sparx is an OC belonging to Lampi01. Thanks for letting me use your character!**


	20. Huggable House

**Chapter Twenty: Huggable House**

As the sun could not be seen from underneath the tall Mount Hyperion, it was a surprise to the girls when they began to yawn and their eyes grew heavier and heavier.

"I doubt I can go much further," Elizabeth yawned, her legs weighed down by exhaustion.

Ellie rolled her eyes. "You're the one who wanted to keep going. Every time I suggested a break, you were all 'no, we need to get out of here!' Don't blame me if we end up with blisters."

Elizabeth groaned. "You heard the stories. The people here view us as criminals, and we have a crazed lamp on our tail. We _do_ need to get out!"

The other girl shivered. "I'm surprised she hasn't caught up with us yet."

Dandy gave her a tap on the face. "Caught up!" Her playful tone indicated some joke, but they could not decipher what she meant.

"If you need a place to sleep, you can stay at my house." They all turned to a familiar face standing just a couple yards behind them.

Ellie laughed. "Hey, aren't you the blanket that tried to kill us earlier?"

He blushed, hiding his square face underneath his blanket hands. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I promise I'll be better! You can stay at my house tonight!"

Elizabeth walked over to him, giving the blanket a lift onto her shoulders, careful he did not wrap himself around her neck. "Well, we do need to sleep. What do you say?"

The other three nodded, Gala yawning. "Yay!" Blankey cheered. "It's just a couple minutes from here. Take the first right."

Turning the corner, they were faced with a large cabin, green shingles mantled on top of the aged gray wood. "It's a lot comfier than it looks," Blankey said as they walked up the pinewood porch. "And a lot lonelier too."

"Aww, are you okay?" Ellie asked.

He sighed, opening the door. "Yeah, but all of my friends left me here. First Kirby got a job as the Queen's janitor, then Toasty and Lampy went to start their business in Refrigera, and Radio…"

"Radio?" Both of the radios echoed.

"Not you guys, my friend Radio. He became a star." Blankey chuckled, grabbing them both for a hug. Dandy pulled away, falling off of Ellie's shoulder. "Oh no, I'm so sorry!"

Dandy grumbled, before shaking her head and holding out her antenna for a shake. "You forgive me?" Blankey asked.

She nodded. "Forgive, forgive." It almost sounded sarcastic, but Blankey did not seem to notice.

"That's wonderful!" He grinned, unlocking the door. "I'll get snacks, and pillows, and anything you need."

Climbing onto Ellie's arm, Dandy grinned as best she could. "Wonderful."

Inside of the house was a living room, centered around a green couch and a TV that did not appear to be living. Gala led his new friend over to the couch where he fiddled with the remote, but the only show on was more Radio Star infomercials. "He doesn't come on until late at night," the blanket whined. "That's the only time I get to see him."

"Hey, I know that feeling," Ellie rung her hands. "My father disappeared a long time ago. I hardly remember him, and I can't even see him on the TV."

"Really?" his eyes grew wide. "That's horrible!"

She nodded. "Yeah. I have no idea what happened to him. I just hope that wherever he is, he's safe."

Blankey wrapped his mitten hand around her shoulder. "It'd be so sad if he died." She grit her teeth at the thought.

"Hey, they found something!" Elizabeth pointed to the TV, where a documentary was playing.

On screen, a microphone lady donning a Christmas ribbon worn like a scarf was interviewing a blender that still somehow managed to look chubby under his plaid labcoat. A caption appeared underneath him.

"What does that say?" Ellie muttered.

"Dr. Blenjamin, Royal Scientist," Blankey replied. "He's in most of these documentaries. I think I've seen this one before."

On the screen, Dr. Blenjamin held a pair of headphones, which instead of a regular cord, had a tube filled with a shimmering white liquid. Each ear cover had a faint glow, flashing orange and cyan. "Years ago, reports show my predecessor tried to develop a machine to turn appliance souls into those of humans. After years of failure, he decided to see if the reverse was possible."

"The doctor, whose name has been lost to time, figured that the excess energy released from the human soul when converted, if contained, could be used as a weapon against the barrier. This is what he created."

The microphone nodded. "Was it ever used? Are there any former humans among us?"

He paused, before shaking his head. "There were two trials planned, but only one ever got converted. She died from… unrelated circumstances I'm sure we all have heard about before she could actually be monitored."

"She died," Dandy laughed. "She _died._ "

"What's so funny?" Elizabeth sat down next to her, confused and a bit worried.

She shook her head. "Unrelated circumstances."

"Maybe… it's an inside joke?" Ellie let out a nervous chuckle. "Anyway, let's turn this off. You have anything to eat?"

"Yes!" The blanket grinned. "Toasty just sent me his new carrot cake recipe!"

"Carrot cake?" the blind radio mumbled.

He nodded, gasping when he realized. "I'm sorry you can't have it, I really promise I'll make it up to you!"

Gala shook his head. _It's fine._

…

That night, the five of them all managed to have a lot of fun. Well, except for Dandy, who remained aloof for an hour before wrapping up in one of the numerous blankets strewn about and nodding off to sleep.

Blankey served up the best carrot cake any of them had ever had, while Gala played a selection of classical music, happy to be a part of the group.

Later in the night, Blankey switched the TV onto an episode of _Painting With a Radio Star._ "Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen," he greeted the audience in his transatlantic accent, similar to Gala's but not as exaggerated. "I suppose you're all here to see me again, I hope. Today, I am just going to be painting a happy little cheering audience."

Ellie smiled as he wiped a paintbrush full of golden paint before dozing off herself, clutching the cuddly blanket with his eyes still peeled to the screen.

"How can he speak on his own?" Elizabeth whispered. Gala shrugged.

Blankey thought for a moment. "Well, Radio's from a different generation, I guess."

"Huh?"

"Appliances can't be born. We have to be manufactured. He and I were some of the first ones to be built Underground! Later on, five more radios were going to be made. Whoever was on duty that night fell asleep, and instead of typing in five, he entered five hundred."

"So there wasn't enough… whatever lets you all speak to go around?"

He nodded. "I think so."

"Well then," she thought. "I think I'm going to bed."

"If you want a room to your own," he muttered, "I've got plenty. "I'm the only one living in this house of five."

She sighed. "Thanks, but no thanks. I'll just stay on the couch with everybody else. Like a sleepover!"

"Yeah!" The blanket smiled, before falling asleep himself.

…

Ellie woke up once during the night, hungry, as usual. Still, being a guest, she did not want to impose and decided that she would just have a small glass of milk, nothing that would be missed.

Pushing off the warm blanket friend, she entered the kitchen, where she found the last slice of carrot cake left out. It was tempting, but she forced herself to ignore it. Until she saw Dandy sitting beside it, facing away from her.

She was humming a tune to herself, a lullaby of sorts. "Um… are you okay?" Ellie whispered

The radio shivered, jumping up. Ellie was startled too. "I didn't mean to scare you!"

Dandy nodded, before sitting down again. She rumbled with the sound of static. Ellie could tell she wanted to be alone. She bid the radio a quick goodnight, getting no response.

...

 **Author's Note: I have been trying to post a chapter each week, but with NaNoWriMo coming up soon, chances are that will not be possible for a bit. If anything gets written, it will be posted, but please do not worry about me when regular updates stop during November.**


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